Edge Of Insanity
by DeniseB
Summary: Deja lives in her small town, bored with life. That is until the mysterious Mort Rainey enters it. Many plot twists. Please R&R. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do not own the character of Mort Rainey (although I wish I did, lol) nor do I own Secret Window. All characters and/or incidents are purely fictional.**

**Chapter 1**

It had been a long, hard day waitressing at 'Lucy's Diner' on this dreary Thursday evening. Finally, it was time to close up. Deja looked up at the clock and saw the time change to 10:00. Time to close up...finally. As she walked over to lock the door, she heard something fall to the ground towards the back of the diner. As she turned around she noticed a man sitting there, bent over picking up a spoon he'd obviously dropped. Had he been there this entire time? She had done so much work in the last 4 hours that she completely forgot there was still a customer left. She made her way over to him to let him know it was time to go home.

"Sir?" she inquired.

"Yes?" he was staring intently into his now empty coffee mug.

"It's 10 pm. Closing time."

"Oh," he looked up at Deja. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to linger. I know you must have some cleaning to do, so I'll be on my way."

"No problem," she said and winked at him. He was a very attractive man, and that's saying a lot because most of the men that passed through here were hardly that.

"Is the coffee all you've had?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's it," he replied.

"Your total comes out to be..."she began calculating in her mind "1.50."

He passed her a five dollar bill and told her to keep the change.

"Seriously?" she asked, shocked and pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah, you look like you've had a rough evening and I've already kept you here longer than you need to be. Thanks again," he hopped out of his booth and made his way out of the diner.

As soon as the man left the restaurant, Deja locked the door, turned over the "CLOSED" sign and began to clean the tables and countertops. After about 20 minutes she yelled to Mike in the back, the owner and cook, that she was leaving. He quickly ran to the front door and locked it behind her.

Deja could never go to bed unless she'd taken a hot shower. And tonight was no exception. Her life was a complete mess at the moment. Just thinking of all her worries gave her migraines.

She was only 26 years old, but her troubles weighed her down like she'd never imagined. She recently split from her boyfriend of 3 years. They had purchased a home together, against the advice of her mother. And now that Darrell was gone and the home was in Deja's name only, she was left to pay the mortgage...alone. The house wasn't anything too extravagent, but it cost enough for her to have to take on a second job waitressing (at Lucy's of course). Her full time job was as an office secretary for the local insurance agency. It didn't pay that well, but it allowed her to relax a little, and that was good considering 'Lucy's' kept her on her feet. Deja was working towards her bachelor's degree at the local university, but because of her financial obligations she had to drop out. Much to the dismay of her mother.

Growing up, Deja's best friend was her mother, Janice. Her father died when she was only 5, so Deja only knew her mother. But when Deja met Darrell at the age of 23 it caused a rift between her and her mother. Janice always wanted the best for her daughter and she knew Darrell was not it. At first he seemed okay, but Janice gradually noticed Deja's attitude changing. She began smoking, staying out late partying, sometimes not coming home at all. After about 3 months of this behavior, Janice gave Deja an ultimatum. She told her daughter that she needed to stop her 'wild' behavior or move out. To Deja, that was a simple decision. Within 2 weeks she was completely out of her mother's house and into Darrell's rundown apartment. They lived there for a good year when Darrell suggested they purchase a home. Because Darrell's credit wasn't the best he convinced Deja to put the house in her name. He was working full time, she was in school and working part time at the insurance agency. Life, she felt, couldn't get better. That was until she came home early one Friday afternoon.

Business had been slow, so her boss let her leave early. She came home to find Darrell in their bed with another woman. Too upset to do anything else, Deja ran out of the house crying, jumped in her car and drove to her mother's house. Her mother consoled her for the next few hours. Because Darrell was such a smooth character, he convinced Deja that it was a one time affair and that it would never happen again. Wanting to believe him, she returned home. The cheating continued. Once a player, always a player, Deja's mother would remind her. Deja grew tired of his ways, but she loved Darrell and was willing to endure his ways just to be with him. Her life came to an abrupt halt when he announced during dinner one night that he had fallen in love with someone else and would be leaving her. That seemed like the end for her, but somehow she managed to get through it and was finally starting to get her life together again.

Thinking of all she had gone through over the last few years was enough to tire anyone out. She quickly dozed off and began her routine again the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Deja came into 'Lucy's Diner' the next afternoon she noticed the familiar face from the night before. He was seated in the same booth with another cup of coffee before him. Because her shift didn't begin for another 15 minutes she decided to go over and thank him again for his generous tip. As she made her way to his booth she saw him look up at her and smile.

"Hi," Deja said returning a smile.

"Nice to see you again," the man replied.

"I just wanted to come over and introduce myself and thank you again for last night's tip."

"Oh, no problem. Glad you're so thankful, considering it was only like 3.00," he chuckled.

"Well, a 3.00 tip for a 1.50 coffee is pretty generous around these parts. My name is Deja by the way."

"Deja? Like deja vu?"

She nodded.

Well, nice to meet you Deja," he stuck out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Mort."

"Nice to meet you too, Mort," she paused for a moment..."Can I have seat?"

"Sure."

"So how come I haven't seen you here before?" she questioned. "Just passing through?"

"Actually, I recently moved to Datenville, about 30 minutes from here," he answered.

"And you came all the way here for a cup of coffee?" Deja questioned.

"I heard it was the best in the area."

Deja found that pretty funny, but as long as he was bringing his business to the establishment she worked at there was no problem.

"So, how do you like Datenville?" she quizzed.

"It's okay. A little more 'suburban' than I'm used to, but luckily I still have my seasonal home up in Tashmore Lake. Whenever I need a break from life, I tend to go there and relax," he said taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, Mort. Let me get to work," Deja said. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, I'm good," he answered. "Maybe you can join me during your break later?"

"Do you plan on being here for another 3 hours?" she asked, laughing.

"Nothing better to do," he answered.

Sure enough after 3 hours, Mort was still in the diner. Reading a book to occupy his time.

"What ya readin'?" Deja asked as she plopped down in the seat across from Mort's.

"It's a novel by Tom Robbins," he replied.

"Any good?"

"Yeah, he's one of my favorite writers, besides myself that is," he answered giving a little smirk.

"So you write huh?"

Mort nodded.

"Anything I've read?" Deja asked very interested.

"Ever heard the short story book _Everybody Drops The Dime_?" he asked her.

"Can't say that I have. But I'll be sure the next time I'm at the bookstore I'll pick up a copy," she said winking her eye.

"I know this is gonna come totally from left field, but would you care to have dinner with me some time?" Mort asked Deja nervously.

She wasn't sure, considering she'd just met this guy the day before. But it's been awhile since she'd been on a date that wasn't fixed up by her friends so she figured what the hell.

"Sure. Here's my number," she began scribbling it down on a napkin. "Give me call some time this weekend or next week and maybe we can set something up.

"Will do."

Deja thanked him for the enjoyable conversation and excused herself. Over the next hour or so, while working, she stole glances at Mort, who continued to sit in the corner booth. The dinner crowd had entered and kept her busy and after getting a free moment to herself she noticed that Mort was no longer in the diner. He seemed to have more mystery about him than any other man she'd ever met. She normally had reservations about going out on dates with men she barely knew, but somehow she felt so comfortable around Mort. She already looked forward to his call.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Two days had passed and still no call from Mort. He hadn't come by the diner either. She was beginning to think he was playing some cruel joke on her.

Deja decided that she needed to do something to clear her mind. Although most people would say her body was near perfect, Deja always felt there was something that could be improved. She already had her workout shorts and tank top on, so she slipped on her running shoes and tied her long, dark hair into a ponytail. She grabbed her keys and Ipod and began her jog. Her normal jogging routine took her on a small path behind her house. It was about a mile long through the woods and ended near the high school. She began her journey. As she was singing along to Outkast's "Hey Ya!" her mind began to wander back to Mort. She imagined what their date would be like. He'd arrive at her house in a classic car with a dozen white lilies (her favorites) to greet her. He'd open up all doors for her, being the total gentleman. They would have dinner in a romantic restaurant and converse over their favorite movies, books and hobbies. At the end of the evening, he'd walk her to her door and give her the softest, most romantic kiss she'd ever had. By the time her imagination had stopped running wild, she realized she was already at the high school. She turned around and made her way back home.

After taking a refreshing shower, putting on her pajamas and making herself a bowl of butter pecan ice cream (to reward herself with of course!), Deja nuzzled up under a blanket on her couch and began to channel surf. After 5 minutes of not being able to find a thing on tv, she decided to pop in a DVD. She was in the mood for something romantic. She decided on one of her favorite romantic movies of all time, _Don Juan DeMarco. _It always put her in a good mood, and that Johnny Depp wasn't too bad to look at either.

About halfway through the movie, Deja had dozed off. Startled, she woke up when the phone began to ring. She squinted her dark brown eyes to see what time it was. A little after 10 pm. She assumed it was one of her girlfriend's trying to coax her into going out with them. She was in no mood for the club, so she decided to let the phone go unanswered. As soon as it stopped ringing she thought it may have been Mort.

"Oh well," she sighed to herself. The phone began to ring again. Only this time she answered.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Hello?" she asked, hoping it would Mort on the other end.

"Hi Deja. It's Mort."

Her prayers had been answered. She tried to remain cool, calm and collected, but on the inside she was as giddy as a 15 year old girl getting her first call from a boy.

Keep it cool, she reminded herself.

"Hi Mort. How are you?"

"I'm great. Not interrupting anything am I?"

"No, I was just relaxing. So how've you been?" she asked, hoping he would divulge some information on his whereabouts over the last couple of days.

"Good, thanks for asking. I've just been busy over the last few days. Since summer is coming up in another month, I decided I'd spend it up at Tashmore Lake. I haven't been there in about 3 months so the place must look a mess. I've been purchasing cleaning supplies and sorting out which day I'd go up there to tidy it up before my summer visit," Mort answered.

"Oh," Deja replied. Seemed like a reasonable enough answer. "I've never been to Tashmore Lake, although I heard it was gorgeous."

"Well, it's only 2 hours from here so maybe you can come visit me over the summer some time," Mort offered.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I could use a nice vacation by a lake," she answered wondering if she seemed too eager.

"Well, the reason I'm calling is because there's an old theater here in Datenville that's doing a midnight showing of _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ and I wanted to know if you'd like to accompany me?"

'Finally, he's asking me out!' Deja thought to herself. "I'm a huge _Rocky Horror_ fan. I'd love to go. It'll take me about an hour to get ready and get to the theater. I'll meet you outside the theater then?"

"Works for me. But before I let you go, seeing as this is an official first date I think I should know your last name," said Mort.

Deja began to giggle as she realized that she'd just made a date with a man whose last name she didn't even know. "It's Brown. And yours?" she inquired.

"Rainey. Well, I guess I'll see you soon," Mort said as he hung up.

After hanging up, the biggest grin spread across Deja's face. You would've thought she hadn't been on a date in over 10 years, but this is the first date she'd actually been excited about in a very long time.

She arrived at the theater about 10 minutes later than she'd hoped, but by the look of things she seemed to have beaten Mort here. Maybe he still needed to beautify himself, she thought and giggled to herself. She pulled into the parking lot, got out and locked her car. She made her way to the front entrance of the theater and still there was no sign of Mort Rainey. People began to pass her as they made their way inside. She checked her watch. The movie would begin in about 15 minutes. She'd give him till then and if he didn't show she was headed home. Just then a small Ford pulled up and parked. And out of the car stepped Mort looking as good as ever. He had on a pair of jeans, boots, and a short sleeved shirt. His hair looked a little unkempt. Not like how she was used to seeing him. Normally his mid-length blondish-brown hair was neatly combed and in place. Deja actually found him more attractive now. He came running over to her and apologizing profusely.

"I'm so, so, so sorry, Deja," he repeated. "I don't know what happened. I guess I lost track of time and before I knew it I had fallen asleep. I hope you're not too upset with me."

He looked so adorable while apologizing. How could she not forgive this face?

"It's okay. I was actually running a little behind schedule myself so I guess we're even," she replied.

They approached the ticket window and Mort paid for the tickets. After buying a bucket of popcorn, Twizzlers and some soda they took a seat towards the back of the theater. Deja had never experienced the _Rocky Horror Picture Show _in a theater so she knew she would be in for a treat. She had heard about how the crowd gets involved and couldn't wait for it to begin.

After the movie ended, Mort walked Deja to her car.

"I can't believe you made me eat _all _that popcorn by myself!" Deja said.

"Well, you gotta have popcorn with a movie, but for some reason over the last 2 years or so I just haven't had a taste for corn of any kind," Mort replied. "You seemed to be enjoying it though."

"Well, it was good, but I'm gonna have to do 3 hours of pilates tomorrow just to work it off," she laughed.

"Ugh, a health nut, huh? Remind me not to let you get ahold of my fridge," he replied.

"That much junk food huh?" she asked.

"Yep."

They both began to laugh. Now the uncomfortable part of the evening came. Would he try to kiss her goodnight? Deja definitely wanted him to, but a part of her was still old fashioned and didn't believe in kissing on the first night.

Interrupting her thoughts, Mort said "Well, it's getting pretty late. I had a really nice time. Hope we can do this again some time."

"Definitely!" she replied a little too anxiously. "I mean, yeah that sounds good," trying to be a little cooler.

He then opened her car door for her and she slipped in. He leaned over and gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek and told her goodnight.

The entire way home she was in LaLa Land. Although she didn't envision their first date to be quite like this, she couldn't think of any way that it could've gone better. Deja went to bed that night with thoughts of Mort Rainey on her mind.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Deja felt like hell the next day. Not only did she stay out late the night before, but she had to work her full time job at the insurance agency and then head over to Lucy's for the night. Even though last night was perfect, she vowed never to have a late date on a weeknight again. She felt as if she looked like death run over twice, and hoped that Mort wouldn't show up at the diner. Much to her chagrin he was seated in his usual spot. He spotted her entrance and his face lit up. He was unavoidable, so she decided the easiest thing would be to go over and say hello.

"Hi Mort."

"Hey," he replied. "I wasn't sure if you were working, but I thought I'd take a chance...and here you are, lucky me," he smiled.

His smile was gorgeous. Everything about him was gorgeous. He had the best bone structure she'd ever seen and she could get lost in his deep, chocolate colored eyes. How did she get so lucky as to meet him? Her luck with men was beyond horrible, but things seemed to have finally brightened for her.

"Well, let me get started. Mike, my boss, doesn't like when I fraternize with the customers while I'm on the clock," she rolled her eyes. "Will you still be here during my break?"

"Definitely," he replied.

Over the next two hours she worked continuously, slyly stealing glances of Mort whenever the opportunity arose. Finally during her break she was able to give Mort 30 minutes of her time. The 30 minutes was up way too fast in both of their opinions, but he told her he'd stick around until closing. Because Mike had to head home a little earlier, he left Deja to close up alone. She told Mort he didn't need to stick around, but Mort figured he could help her out and she could get home earlier since she was so tired. After Mike walked out, she locked the door and turned on the CD player in the back. In it was Maroon 5's "_Songs About Jane" _one of Deja's favorite CDs. Whenever she was left to close alone those songs would keep her company while she cleaned. She quickly turned it to the number 9 song, _Secret._ Completely forgetting Mort was even in the building let alone the same room, Deja began singing and swaying her body to the music.

"_...I know I don't know you_

_But I want you so bad_

_Everyone has a secret_

_Oh, can they keep it_

_Oh no they can't..."_

Deja didn't know just how relevant the words she sang were. She got into her routine of cleaning and after about a minute she finally remember Mort was there. Her face immediately grew hot from embarrassment. She prayed he wasn't watching her. She slowly turned around and there he was beaming from ear to ear. He obviously enjoyed the show she was putting on.

"Why'd you stop?" he questioned.

She felt like such an idiot. "I totally forgot you were here," she admitted.

"Well, by all means, keep forgetting I'm here and go back to singing and that little dance you were doing," he replied.

"Don't think so," she said as she shook her head.

She got back to her cleaning and Mort went back to whatever it was he was doing, spying on her more than likely.

In about 10 minutes they were finished and she was locking up.

"Thanks for helping out tonight. It made things go faster," Deja said.

"My pleasure," he said. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," she answered happily.

Again he gave her a small peck on the cheek and she got into her car and drove off.

Deja worked at the diner three other nights that week and each night Mort Rainey was there. She had even heard from a few of the other waitresses that he'd come in on nights that she wasn't working. He normally only stayed long enough to drink his one cup of coffee those days and he'd back home again.

It was Friday night and Mike said he would close the diner up. As Mort walked her to her car, preparing to say goodnight, Deja did something that surprised even her. She invited Mort back to her place. She didn't have to work the next day and figured they could rent a movie and hang out. Plus she was dying to finally be completely alone with him. They'd spent hours at the diner together and every night he would end it with a peck on the cheek. She was determined to put that to an end tonight. Although she wasn't normally this forward with men, she figured it was do or die time. Mort keenly agreed. He got in his car and followed Deja to Blockbuster to rent _Casablanca_. He had actually never seen the movie and being that Humphrey Bogart was a favorite of Deja's, she said it was the one movie he had to see before he died.

They walked into her house and she told Mort to make himself comfortable in her living room. She went into her bedroom and put on a pair of comfortable jogging shorts and a tank top. When she was lounging she had to be comfortable. By the time she came back into the living room, Mort had already popped in the movie and was waiting for her to return. She asked him if he wanted anything to drink, but because he was already filled up on coffee he figured it best to not take her up on her offer or he'd miss half the movie for being in the restroom.

The seating arrangements were a little awkward at first. She wanted to be near him, but didn't want to give him the impression that she 'wanted' him. She aptly sat on the left side of the couch and Mort was on the right. By the end of the movie Deja found herself nestled up in Mort's arms. She couldn't quite remember how she got there, but she did know that it felt wonderful in his arms. He seemed to have dozed off and was now slowly waking. He looked down to find himself wrapped around Deja's petite body. As he was noticing their peculiar position (and wondering just how they'd ended up that way) he saw her look up at him. She seemed to be embarrassed. That's the last thing Mort wanted her to feel.

Deja sat up and looked him directly in the eyes. He took her face in his hands and moved his lips close to hers. Letting their faces linger in this position was torture for Deja. She wanted to feel his lips on hers in the worst way. But Mort wanted this moment to tarry. He wanted it to be special. Then, when neither of them could stand the closeness any longer, he pressed his mouth to hers. She could feel his tongue snaking into her mouth and she willingly accepted it. Their kisses intensified. They were both in need of air, but neither wanted to come up for it. Deja ran her hands through his hair and moaned with passion. He lifted her up so that she was now straddling him on the couch. His hands roamed freely over her body as she continued to caress his head. She wanted him so badly, but didn't want to take it to that level quite yet. She wanted him to really want her. They were enthralled in a moment of passion, but he had to truly want her before she felt she could giver herself to him entirely. Suddenly, Deja broke the kiss.

"What's wrong?" Mort inquired.

"Nothing...but it's getting late and...I think you should be going before...this gets out of hand," she answered.

"Are you sure?" he asked, wanting to make sure that she didn't want to go further, because God knows he did.

She laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure," she said, removing herself from on top of him.

She began walking to the door to grab Mort's keys from the key hanger. Mort walked over to her and thanked her for a great evening.

"Call me tomorrow?" Deja asked.

"Definitely," he replied. And with that he leaned over and gave her another peck on the cheek and began walking to his car.

Deja couldn't believe it. They had just kissed so passionately and he was back to the 'cheek thing' again? I guess she had a lot to learn about Mort Rainey, she thought as she watched him drive away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Over the next few weeks Deja and Mort spent lots of time together. They had gone out on a few more dates and had developed serious feelings for one another. Deja actually thought that Mort may be 'the one.' She didn't want to jump the gun, but could feel herself falling in love with him. She only hoped that he felt the same way. She knew that he was moving to Tashmore Lake soon and she hoped that wouldn't put a strain on their relationship. Even though his summer house was only 2 hours away, Deja knew their time together would be cut back dramatically.

It was the day before Mort was to leave to go clean his Tashmore getaway. Deja had decided to take the weekend off to accompany him. Because Mort needed to pack some things for their trip, he wasn't able to come to the diner that night.

About an hour before closing time, Deja walked over to the order of a customer who had just walked in. His back was to her, so she couldn't prepare herself for the shock she was about to get. As soon as she faced him, she noticed the familiar hazel eyes that she used to get lost in. It was Darrell. This put a damper on her entire day. She hadn't seen him since their break up and she wasn't prepared to face him today.

She sighed loudly. "What can I get you?" she said in an annoyed tone.

"Is that any way to talk to your customers?" he smirked. He knew how to get to her.

"Darrell, I have other clients here. Can you please just order."

"Let me get a water with an order of fries," he replied.

Deja came back to his table in a 5 minutes with his water and fries. As she placed his plate on the table and turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist.

"What!" she growled, a little too loudly. Other customers began to look in their direction.

"Can we talk for a minute?" he asked.

"I'm working," Deja retorted.

"I promise as soon as I say what I came here for, I'll leave you alone," he begged.

Although she didn't want to talk to him, she knew how persistent he could be. She figured it was easier to listen to him now and get it over with than to have him harass her over the next few weeks.

"Fine, let me ask Mike if I can take a 10 minute break," she said making her way to the back to talk to Mike. He had no problem with it seeing as how things were slowing down and Fran, the other waitress was still here.

Deja made her way back to Darrell's booth and sat across from him. She had to admit to herself that he was still very attractive. Thankfully, she had moved on and had no desire to ever go back to him and his cheating ways.

"I know this is coming out of nowhere," he started, "seeing as how we haven't had contact for a very long time. But I wanted to come and apologize for everything I've put you through. I know what I did to you was horrible, but I just want your forgiveness."

Deja was completely stunned. She didn't know what to say. This was definitely not the Darrell she knew. He was always too proud to admit his mistakes. Now he was coming to her asking her to forgive him? He must have wanted something.

"What are you after?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. I just came to make things between you and I okay. I've come to a point in my life where I'm trying to right some of my wrongs," he explained.

This caught Deja completely off guard. She didn't know what to think. He seemed sincere enough, but she didn't want to get pulled into his little game, if that's in fact what this was.

He continued, "I know I really hurt you and I pray that one day you can forgive me. I hate that I messed up what we had and I know we'll never get that back, but I want you to know that I'm truly sorry for everything."

Deja paused for a moment. "Wow...I'm not sure of what to say. You caught me completely off guard..."

"I know this must be a shock for you, but I was hoping that after you've had a chance to digest all of this that maybe you and I could continue on with a friendship," he went on. "As much as I'd love for things to go back to how they used to be, I know that won't happen."

"Well, I'm definitely not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with you anymore," Deja said quickly.

"I'm not asking for that," he pleaded. "I just want to know if you can forgive me and possibly continue on with a friendship?"

"You've put me through a lot, Darrell," she explained, "but I forgave you a long time ago. I can forgive, but can't forget."

"Just so you know, I am truly sorry and I hope you can find it in your heart to be my friend again," he said as he got up out of the booth and walked out the door.

Deja was left sitting in the booth unsure of what to think. Darrell seemed like he had really changed. She wasn't sure what brought this change about, but she was hoping he meant every word he said. For the rest of her shift, she wondered if she could indeed have a friendship with Darrell.

It was 9 am the next day, and Deja was seated next to Mort in his small Ford. He had picked her up about 15 minutes earlier and they were on their way to Tashmore Lake. Deja was very excited to finally be going to his summer home. She'd heard such wonderful things about it, like how relaxing it was, and how beautiful the lake was. She couldn't wait to take a boat ride on the placid waters.

Deja had told Mort all about her past with Darrell, but she debated whether or not she should tell him about her latest encounter with him. She decided she'd wait before going into all of that. Mort hadn't told her too much about his past. Only that he was divorced and that his ex, Amy, had gone missing along with her boyfriend. Mort told her that their divorce was due to Amy's unfaithfulness. Deja could definitely relate.

Breaking the silence she said, "So, how long do you think it'll take us clean up?"

"Mmmm, a few hours, I'd imagine. Since no one's been there, it can't be too messed up. Mainly dusty, I'd think."

"Well, what are we going to do to occupy our time after that?" she asked wondering what Mort had in mind.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe we can go for a boat ride on the lake?"

"I'm definitely up for that!" Deja replied excitedly.

A few hours later, they arrived at Mort's house in Tashmore Lake. And they were engrossed in their chores. Deja found that his home had a certain charm about it. She immediately felt at home there. She imagined all of the wonderful summer vacations she and Mort could have there. That thought alone, made her smile. While Mort was busy vacuuming the upstairs area, Deja was focused on cleaning up the kitchen. She didn't realize how much sweat she'd produced. They were really putting in some elbow grease. The lake looked so inviting. She thought about how refreshing it would be to just take a nice dip once all the cleaning was done. From what she could tell there wasn't really much left to do. Relaxation was right around the corner.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Mort suggested they head over to the local grocery store to pick up some necessities. Even though Deja would've preferred to stay at the cabin and take a shower, she figured it would be nice to see some of the town Mort spoke so fondly of.

They finally reached a small store and the minute they entered all eyes were on them. She didn't think much of it because a lot of small towns were leery of new visitors. She was sure they recognized Mort, but were probably curious about who she was.

After gathering all of their necessary items, they headed to the counter where they were greeted by a girl about the age of 20.

"Hi, Mr. Rainey," the girl said nervously.

"Hi Diana, how've you been?" Mort asked.

"Fine. So, is this gonna be it?" Diana, seemed so timid in front of Mort, Deja thought. The only conclusion Deja could come up with was that Diana had a crush on him. Deja couldn't blame her, Mort was attractive.

"Yeah, that's it," Deja chimed in startling the girl. Apparently the girl hadn't even noticed Deja standing there. She was completely focused on Mort.

She finished packing the items in a brown bag and rang up the total. Mort quickly paid and they headed to his car. Deja was glad she came along on this shopping excursion because it afforded her the opportunity to see a lot of this small town. And she was slowly falling in love with it.

Once they were back at the house, Mort suggested they take a swim in the lake. Since that had been on Deja's mind all day, she found no reservations with this idea. As he went to the kitchen to unpack their items, she ran upstairs to pull out her bathing suit.

Ever since Deja made the decision to accompany Mort on this trip, she agonized over which bathing suit to bring. She had about five of them, but felt she only looked great in about three. She figured she'd bring all three with her and just decide on which one when she got to the house. Even though she knew she could turn him on in her white bikini, she went for something a little more modest. She grabbed her black, one piece suit, put it on and headed back downstairs.

Mort was just finishing up in the kitchen. As he walked out, he saw a vision of beauty descending from the stairs. He had never seen Deja look so beautiful. Her bathing suit accented all her curves and fit her just right. He couldn't wait to get on his swimming trunks and join her in the lake.

About 10 minutes later, the couple was enjoying a refreshing dip in the lake in front of Mort's house. This is exactly what they needed. Mort and Deja loved to play games with each other and today was no exception. As Deja swam near the dock she lost track of where Mort had gone. She knew he hadn't gotten out of the water, so that meant he had to be around here somewhere. She began to look in all directions, but because the sun was obstructing her view she could barely see anything. She made a note to herself to wear a pair of sunglasses the next time they came out to swim. Just then she felt something brush against her feet. And all of a sudden she was totally immersed in the water. Because it happened so fast, Deja wasn't able to catch her breath before going under. She struggled with whatever was pulling her under. She knew that if she didn't come up for air soon, that she would pass out.

She reached down trying to undo whatever it was that was holding on to her ankle. The water was too murky for her to make out anything. But as soon as she grabbed her leg, she felt a hand. Finally, the hand let go and Deja quickly swam to the surface.

She was completely exhausted and gasping for air as she swam back to shore. Coughing heavily she suddenly felt a hand patting her back. It was Mort.

"I...almost...drowned...out...there!" she yelled at him, still gasping for breath.

"I'm sorry, hon," he said apologetically, "I was just playing around, I didn't think you'd actually get hurt." He then embraced her and held her in his arms until she began breathing normally. "I really am sorry, it was just fun and games."

Deja didn't want this to ruin their day, and even though she was still a little uneasy, she decided the easiest thing to do would be to forgive him.

"It's okay," she answered, her voice in a lowered whisper. "I know you didn't mean any harm." She gave him a little smile.

They both decided that it was time to go in and save the rest of their swim for another day. Deja took a shower first while Mort prepared some sandwiches. After toweling off, putting on her jeans and T-shirt, she headed back downstairs.

"Mmmm..."Mort said, giving her a once over, then ever so lightly kissing her neck, "you smell incredible."

"Must be the shampoo," Deja replied.

"Mind if I use some?" he asked.

"Go right ahead. I left it in the shower for you anyway."

He then made his way up the stairs and into the bathroom. Deja sat at the kitchen table and began to eat the food Mort had made. Just as she was taking a sip of her lemonade, she heard a faint noise coming from the living room. She recognized it immediately. It was her cell phone in the bottom of her purse. Wondering who it could be, she quickly dug to the bottom of her purse and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Deja?" the voice on the other end asked.

Deja could spot that voice a mile away. What could Darrell possibly want?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 **

"Hi Darrell," she answered sullenly.

"I was just calling to see how you were doing."

This was definitely not the Darrell she knew. Deja decided to be as nice as possible since it did seem like he was making an effort to befriend her. She thought it best to keep her voice lowered because she didn't want Mort to find out she was speaking with her ex.

"Now is really not the best time Darrell," she quickly retorted.

"I'm sorry," he went on, "I didn't mean to interrupt anything you were doing. Do you think you could call me back later?"

"For what?" Deja was slowly becoming irritated.

"Nothing in particular. Just to catch up on old times."

Mort had finally finished in the bathroom and stood on the staircase listening to Deja's hushed conversation. He couldn't make out much of what she was saying, but one word, or rather name, stood out.

"I'll call you back later, Darrell," she said as she hung up.

As she turned to put her phone back into her purse, she was startled to see Mort descending from the staircase. She wondered if he'd heard her, but figured he couldn't have. She was very careful to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

"Who was that?" Mort asked.

"Oh...just my mom. I forgot to tell her I was going out of town with you this weekend and she got worried when I didn't answer my house phone," she answered quickly. Deja hated to lie, but things were going so well with Mort and she didn't want to mess it up by having him think she was still involved with Darrell.

It hurt Mort to hear Deja's lie, but he figured now was not the time to start an argument. She must've had a reason to lie, and maybe it was an unwanted call from Darrell, he thought to himself. Either way he was going to have to keep his eyes and ears open because the last thing he needed was another cheating woman.

It was getting late and Mort was dead tired. He and Deja had spent the last few hours cuddled on the couch watching old "I Love Lucy" episodes. Deja was still wide awake, so she told Mort she'd be in bed in another hour or so. After channel surfing for the next 15 minutes, and not finding a thing to watch, she decided to turn in herself. Passing by Mort's computer on her way to the bedroom she decided to check her e-mail. She figured everyone had internet access, so Mort should be no exception. After spending another 10 minutes fiddling around on his laptop, with no sign of internet access she decided to give up. While closing down the programs she had opened, Deja came across something that appeared to be a story in the works.

From what she could tell, it was a story that Mort was currently working on. It was saved with today's date and was only on page 13. She began to read:

"_David couldn't believe he had just buried his wife. This was the woman he had spent the last nine years loving. And even as he was pounding the dirt over her cold, still lifeless body, he wouldn't have changed a thing. Angela deserved everything she got. She was a whore. The town's whore. And David couldn't be the town joke. He had to put an end to her ways, and if that meant death, then so be it."_

Deja was stunned. She had no idea that Mort's stories were this morbid. She never really thought about what kind of books he wrote, but never imagined it was anything of this nature. It sent a chill up her spine.

She didn't want to think about the creepy direction the story was headed in. The best way to overcome that feeling, in her opinion, was to be wrapped up in the arms that made you feel safe. And at this moment, those arms belonged to Mort Rainey.

She walked into the bedroom, and quietly slipped in next to Mort. He immediately woke up.

"Sorry," she said in a hushed tone, "didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh, that's okay. I'm glad you finally decided to come up, I was getting lonely up here all by myself," he said in a suggestive way.

Both Deja and Mort were aware that this was their first night sleeping in the same bed. And although neither had been intimate with another person in quite some time, they were eager for this moment.

Mort pulled Deja's face close to his and began to kiss her passionately. He traced her lips with his tongue as she moaned and ran her fingers through his hair. Both of them wanted each other so badly, but they wanted this moment to linger as long as possible. Mort then made a trail with his tongue from Deja's lips to her neck. As he nibbled on the tender flesh below her jaw line, she let out a giggle. It seemed to calm the nervousness they both felt.

He slowly made his way back up to her lips and kissed her with even more fervor than before. Their hands began to explore each other's bodies. Touching and teasing each available piece of skin they could find. The restraints of their clothing were becoming too much. They fought to remove each article of clothing as quickly as possible.

Finally they were as close as any two people could be. They began to taste each other's bodies with their mouths. Each nibble and taste produced a new sensation. They were bringing themselves to the brink. After what seemed like ages, Mort finally entered her. They both felt like exploding right then and there, but held back to savor the experience. After another 20 minutes of shear pleasure the couple was brought to their peak. They laid there and wallowed in their love for a little longer, before falling asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, Deja awoke alone in the bed. She didn't hear the shower running so she figured Mort must've been downstairs. After wrapping herself up in a tattered, striped robe she'd found in the closet, she made her way down the stairs.

The most wonderful aroma hit her as she entered the kitchen. Without having to even look she could smell bacon, eggs and pancakes. Mort had wanted to surprise her with breakfast in bed, but Deja had spoiled his plans by waking up a little to early.

She decided to help out by setting the table and pouring each of them a glass of apple juice. Up until now, neither of them had spoken a word, but the events of the night before were clearly on their minds.

Deciding to break the ice, Deja said "The food looks great! I didn't know you cooked."

"Well, if you've been single as long as I have, you really don't have a choice but to learn," he laughed.

Deja joined him in laughter. Over the next hour or so, they enjoyed their food and each other's company.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Mort had dropped Deja off at her house about two hours ago. She had already unpacked and was sitting on the phone with her childhood friend, Dominique.

"So how was it!" Dominique questioned.

"I'm not about to go into the details of it with you!"

"Since when have you ever held out on me with your sexual exploits?"

"Haha, nice try Dominique," Deja quipped, "but you aren't getting juicy details from me."

"Well, I'll remember that the next time you want to hear about my adventures with Bob," Dominique said sassily.

"Girl, please," Deja laughed. "You know I could care less about what goes on between you and Bob in the bedroom."

They both began to laugh. Deja loved chatting with Dominique but hated the fact that she was so nosy. Dominique would use any means necessary to pry for details, but Deja almost always remained silent. There were a few times when she would give in to her friend, but there was something different about her relationship with Mort. It's almost as if she wanted to protect it from the world. If no one ever found out about the two of them, it wouldn't bother her one bit.

"Well," Dominique continued, interrupting Deja's thoughts, "since I see you're not going to give up the goods on your new beau I'll guess I'll be going."

"Sorry to disappoint," Deja replied sincerely.

"Love you," her friend responded.

"Love you too," Deja said as she hung up.

Just as she laid the phone back onto it's receiver, it began to ring again. Darrell, she thought to herself.

"Hello?"

"Hi hon, it's me," Mort said on the other end.

Thankful for it to be him, and not Darrell, a smile took over her face.

"I know you must be sick of me by now," he continued, "but I just wanted to tell you something, and you don't have to respond at all."

Curious about what Mort might have to say, she listened intently. She heard him take a deep breath. This must be serious, Deja thought to herself.

"...Deja...I love you," he finished.

She was completely stunned. She had felt the same way, but didn't want to say anything because she felt it was too early.

"Deja? Are you there?" Mort questioned.

"Yes, Mort...I'm here and...I love you too!" she said excitedly.

"You don't have to say it if you don't mean it," he replied.

"Don't mean it? Can't you hear the excitement in my voice!" she went on, "I never thought I'd be able to love this much again, but I do! And it's all because of you, Mort. You changed my life."

"Wow," he stated, "I feel the exact same way. It's like every moment with you is new and refreshing. You give me inspiration."

No one had ever said anything remotely like that to Deja. She was overcome with emotion. She wanted nothing more than to be with him at this very moment.

Interrupting her thoughts, Mort finished, "Well, I'm sure you've got a busy day ahead of you so I'll let you get some rest. Sweet dreams." And the line was silent once again.

The rest of Deja's week was routine. Mort had come into the diner twice that week, but because he needed to get some work done on his latest story he told her he wouldn't be able to make it that night.

There wasn't much going on in the diner on this Thursday night and since there were two other waitresses on the clock that night, Mike decided to let Deja off early.

Deja was grateful for the night off because it afforded her the chance to do some reading. She had recently purchased Mort's book "Everybody Drops The Dime," and she couldn't wait to get started.

Just as she settled into her couch with a blanket, she noticed a flash out the corner of her eye. It was her answering machine. Someone had left a message. She walked over and played it. It

was Darrell. He was calling to check on her. She decided to finally give him the time he'd been hoping for.

The telephone rang and rang. And as Deja was just about to hang up, the familiar voice she had once loved answered.

"Hello?" she heard his heavy voice coo.

"Hi Darrell, it's Deja."

"Thanks for calling me back," he sounded grateful.

"No problem. So, what's up?" she asked.

"Not much," he replied, "I was just calling to see how you were doing."

Over the next hour, Darrell and Deja caught up on old times. It almost seemed as if nothing had gone wrong between the two of them.

"Wow," Darrell laughed, "we've been on the phone for over an hour."

"I know, we completely lost track of time," Deja responded.

"This was really nice catching up with you."

"Yeah, it was," Deja admitted.

"Maybe we can get together sometime and hang out?"

Unsure of how to reply to that, Deja just remained silent.

"Still there?" Darrell asked, wondering if she'd heard him.

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"Alrighty then...," he paused, "by the silence I take it that you don't want to hang out."

"It's not that," she was finally able to put her words together, "it's just that I'm seeing someone right now and..."

"Deja, I'm not trying to turn this into anything romantic," he went on, "as a matter of fact, I recently met a young lady and I think she may be the one."

Deja was stunned. Darrell hadn't mentioned anyone else to her, so she naturally assumed he was still single. It caught her totally off guard. "Oh," was all she could manage to say.

"Listen," he continued, "I enjoy your company that's all. If you don't feel comfortable being out in public with me, I understand, but believe me when I say that it's strictly platonic on my end."

"Well, let me think about it and I'll get back to you."

"Not a problem, babe. Take care of yourself and don't be a stranger," Darrell said right before hanging up.

Deja wondered to herself if she actually could have just a platonic relationship with the man that she once considered her everything.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next morning, Deja awoke to a loud knock on her door. She slowly made her way to the front door. She wasn't worried about her appearance because she knew at this time in the morning it couldn't be anyone of importance. A salesman probably.

She opened the door to see Mort standing there with two large shopping bags in his hands. This was a pleasant surprise to say the least. As Mort made his way into her house, Deja was reminded of her 'bed head' hairdo and immediately began to run her fingers through her hair. She excused herself and made her way into the bathroom to make herself at least somewhat presentable.

After a few minutes, she entered the kitchen to see Mort preparing them a breakfast fit for a king.

"So what may I ask, is the occasion?" she questioned.

"Do I have to have a reason to come see you?" Mort retorted.

"No," she blushed, "of course not. I just find it odd that you're here at," she looked at the clock hanging on the wall, "8 o'clock in the morning, that's all."

"Well, I woke up around six, and that's not normally like me, and all I could think about was you. I wanted to come over then, but I figured I'd let you get a little more sleep," he laughed.

"Well, I do appreciate you being so considerate. A girl does need her beauty rest," she winked.

Mort made Deja go back into the bedroom so he could make her the breakfast in bed that he had planned on in Tashmore Lake. She didn't need to be told twice.

After about 30 minutes later, Mort finally entered the bedroom. On a tray he had three large fluffy pancakes with a dollop of butter and some syrup, scrambled eggs, three strips of bacon, a slice of toast with jam, a large glass of orange juice and a single white lily in a small vase. It was more than she could have ever hoped for.

Seeing him go to all this trouble made her want to make love to him right then and there. He placed the tray down in front of her and told her he'd be in to join her in a minute. After about five minutes had passed, Deja began to wonder what Mort was up to.

Answering her thoughts, Mort walked into the bedroom with a second tray. And then she saw something that made her laugh hysterically. Mort had on his pajamas. Snoopy pajamas at that! He set his tray down on the night stand and joined Deja under the covers. For the next hour or so, they enjoyed their food while watching morning cartoons.

Mort got up and took their trays into the kitchen and placed all the dishes in the dishwasher. After turning it on, he made his way back to Deja.

She had turned the tv off and was putting a CD into the player when Mort walked in. He instinctively knew what she was doing. He began to pull the shades down to set the mood. Smooth beats began to fill the room. Deja had recently purchased Sade's Greatest Hits CD and thought this moment was the opportune one to finally play it.

"_...This is no ordinary love_

_No ordinary love..."_

"Oh, Sade is great," she heard Mort say as he entered the bed.

"Yeah, I know," Deja said softly.

After lighting a few candles around the room she made her way into the confines of her bed.

From that moment on Mort and Deja enjoyed the pleasures of each other's bodies. Neither of them wanted to come up for air. They remained on their natural high well into the evening. Only pausing to fulfill a few basic needs.

By 8 o'clock, that night, Deja was completely drained. Mort was like the Energizer bunny, he could keep going and going and going, etc. She couldn't believe they'd gone through the entire Sade CD almost six times.

Just then Mort got up and decided to take a shower. He wanted Deja to join him, but she knew that if she did, they wouldn't get much 'showering' done. She figured she'd wait until he was finished and then she'd go in.

After each of them were completely clean they decided they should eat something. Neither of them felt like leaving the house, so they ordered in Chinese. 45 minutes later they were sitting in the living room eating and watching the news.

While Deja was eating she couldn't help but to steal glances of her new found love. As he sat there slurping away at his lo mein, in his Snoopy pjs, she couldn't see herself with anyone else. And she imagined Mort felt the same way. She occasionally spotted him taking a glimpse in her direction.

After putting their leftovers into her refrigerator, she made her way back onto the couch. Mort had stretched out completely and Deja found her way in between his legs. She leaned her back and head against Mort's chest and situated herself until she was snug.

They both drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Around 3 o'clock in the morning, Mort awoke. Even though he was more than used to sleeping on the couch, he didn't want Deja to wake up uncomfortably. He eased himself off of the sofa, careful not to stir her. He bent down and scooped Deja's body into his arm. She made a slight moan and intuitively rested her head against Mort's shoulder.

Thankfully, the sheets were pulled back on the bed from their earlier exploits. He was able to set Deja down without any trouble. He covered her up with the blankets, kissed her forehead and made his way to the opposite side of her Queen sized bed.

As he got in, Deja rustled in her sleep turning to face him. She looked like a sleeping angel. He couldn't envision anyone more perfect. Thinking of how happy the last couple of months had made him, suddenly got him thinking of more morbid things.

Thoughts of Amy, Ted, and especially Shooter began to enter his mind. He hadn't spoken to Shooter in almost a year now. He hoped that that part of his life was over. Things were just now becoming normal again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Two weeks had passed and Mort had finally moved into his summer cabin. He called Deja everyday telling her how much he missed her. She of course, missed him just as much. A week from today she would be heading to Tashmore Lake to spend seven wonderful days with him. Neither of them could wait.

After working her daytime job at the insurance agency, Deja was headed home for a night in. She was glad to not have to work at Lucy's that evening, but knew she'd be bored all alone. She sat on her couch, reading Mort's book, when suddenly the phone began to ring.

"Hi baby," she said, knowing it was Mort on the other end.

"Well, hello to you too...sweetheart," the voice on the other end chuckled.

It was Darrell. She felt stupid for assuming it was Mort, but tried to not let her embarrassment show. "Oh, Darrell. I thought you were..."

"Someone else," he cut her off. "It's okay, I know you weren't expecting a call from me."

"So, what's up?"

"Well, I'm calling because...well, um..." he paused.

"Spit it out, Darrell," Deja was slowly getting annoyed.

"I wanted to know if you'd wanna go see a movie with me?"

Deja was not prepared for that at all. She certainly didn't want to go on a date with her ex.

As if reading her thoughts, he continued, "Trust me, this wouldn't be a date. It's just that there's a good independent film playing at the theater down the block from your house and you know how I hate to go see anything alone. Celeste, my girlfriend, hates small independent films, and she suggested I take someone else. And...well, you're the only person that I could think of that would appreciate the movie as much as me."

Celeste, Deja thought as she rolled her eyes, he made sure to throw her in there. Deja was bored and she did love a good independent film. She figured there couldn't be any harm in two people going to see a movie together. Especially since both of them were taken.

She somewhat hesitantly agreed to meet him in the theater in an hour. Because she wasn't in the mood to impress, she kept on her faded jeans, her brown Maroon 5 T-shirt, and her flip flops. She quickly combed her hair, threw on her denim jacket, grabbed her keys and was on her way.

Darrell had made it to the theater before Deja and had already purchased two small buckets of popcorn along with two sodas. As soon as Deja walked in she saw the smile spread across his face.

"Glad you showed, I was thinking you might stand me up," he laughed nervously.

"You got us popcorn?" she questioned, ignoring his statement.

"Yeah, I figured it was the least I could do since you wouldn't let me pay for your ticket."

"Well, since this is technically NOT a date," Deja made sure to stress the word 'not,' "I wouldn't feel right with you paying for my ticket."

"Well, just consider the popcorn and soda as part of my apology for everything I've done to you in the past."

Deja wished he hadn't brought that up. She had almost forgotten about that, but now her feelings of hurt and distrust were rising to the surface. She tried to shake it off. She wanted to enjoy the movie and go home to call Mort. Just then she thought to herself that she was glad Mort was in Tashmore Lake. How would it look if he had run into her and her ex? She already knew how he felt about cheaters, even though this was strictly platonic, he loathed it. She made up in her mind that this would be her last meeting with Darrell.

For the next two hours Deja and Darrell sat in silence and enjoyed the film. She was actually glad that she had agreed to come to the movies. The movie was great, and she may have otherwise never seen it.

As the credits rolled, they discussed their thoughts on the film. This was something they always did after every movie they'd see. They'd discuss their favorite parts, the symbolism behind certain aspects of it, which characters they could identify with, etc. That was always the best part of watching a movie with Darrell. He was such a film buff and she loved hearing his thoughts on the subject.

They were still discussing the wonderful film, when the lights had come on and the usher came in to begin his cleaning.

Deja began to laugh. "I guess that's our cue to get going."

"I still have so much more to say about this movie. I mean...it had so much depth to it!" Darrell replied as if not caring that it was time to leave.

"Darrell," Deja cut in, "we need to really go. The usher looks like he wants us to go so he can finish his work and go home."

"Yeah, I guess," he reluctantly agreed.

"Come on, time to go home," she said.

"Maybe we can discuss this further at your place?" he offered.

"Ha, nice try Darrell," she went on, "I thought you were committed to what's her face?"

"Celeste. And yes, I am. I was just wanting to finish this conversation, that's all."

Deja checked her watch and seeing as how it was still early she suggested that they head over to Lucy's for a cup of coffee and some pie. She figured he could finish talking about the movie, she could tell him that this would be their last time meeting because she didn't feel comfortable doing this while she had a boyfriend, and that would be that.

About 20 minutes later, with their pie and coffee half gone, and Darrell finally being done talking about the movie, Deja thought it was the perfect moment to let him know she couldn't be friends with him.

"Darrell," she started, "this is the last time we can meet like this."

He looked at her confused.

"I really did enjoy myself, but I'm in love with someone else and I don't think he would be too thrilled with our little 'meeting.' I know this is strictly on a friendly level, but I just don't feel at ease with this. And I'd appreciate it if the calls stopped too."

There she'd done it. She was able to say what needed to be said, and he didn't even interrupt her.

"Wow," he really did look surprised, "well, if you're not completely okay with all of this, then I totally understand. I respect you and your new relationship." He paused, "Thanks for coming out with me tonight anyway."

He was taking this really well. Deja was proud of him. He honestly seemed like a changed person. Whoever this Celeste girl was, she was obviously doing something right.

They finished their food and Darrell walked Deja to her car. She thanked him for the nice evening and they gave each other a hug.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" Deja said.

"Will do. And you make sure that man of yours treats you like the queen you are."

She nodded, gave him another hug and got into her car. As she pulled off, she looked into the rear view mirror and could see Darrell standing next to his car waving good-bye. That was a chapter in her life that could finally come to a close, Deja thought.

Mort had pulled up to the diner, hoping that Deja was working. He wanted to surprise her. It had only been a couple of weeks since he'd seen her last, and she was set to come to Tashmore Lake next week, but he missed her. She was his sense of security and he needed that.

Just as he was about to get out of his car, he saw Deja and another man walking out of the diner. She didn't have her work uniform on, so he knew she must've been there for leisure purposes. He sat as still as possible as he watched the interaction between the two. They talked briefly and then he saw Deja wrap her arms around this stranger and give him a warm hug. How could she? Mort thought to himself. And just then he saw her give the man another hug, get into her car and drive off. "That bi.tch!" he yelled, a little too loudly. He couldn't believe this was happening to him all over again. Why did he keep falling for women that were prone to cheat? He knew he had to put this to an end, but he wasn't sure how. Just then he saw the man get in his car and pull off. Mort decided to follow.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Mort looked at the light blue digital clock in his car, it was almost 11 o'clock. It was pitch black outside due to the cloudy skies that took over the night sky. He followed the man to an apartment complex, where he saw him get out and open the door to apartment 305. Mort sat in his car, contemplating whether or not he should get out and confront the stranger. His mind became flooded with thoughts. He began to hear voices coming at him from all directions.

"_Get out of the car!"_

"_Kill him!"_

"_He's fu.cking your girlfriend!"_

"_She'll leave you for him!"_

"_She hates you!"_

"_She'll find out what you did to Amy!"_

"_You won't get away with it!"_

Over and over, the phrases repeated in his mind. Mort got out of the car, trying to escape the voices. But they seemed to follow him. Then as quickly as they came, they were all gone. All but one, that is. He heard the slow, southern drawl that he had become so familiar with. It had been a while since Mort had heard it, but it instantly made him relax.

"You know what to do, Mr. Rainey," the voice said, "Go get it."

It? What was it? Oh, that, Mort thought to himself. In a trance like state, he popped the trunk, walked to the rear of the car and pulled 'it' out.

"You know what to do with it," the voice continued.

Just then, Mort took the black Amish style hat from his from his hands and placed it on his head. Also in the trunk was a large butcher's knife which he placed in his back pocket. After closing his car door, Mort made his way to apartment 305.

He quietly knocked on the door. He knew that the man was still awake because he heard the television running. Just then Mort heard footsteps make their way to the door. The door opened and he was face to face with the man who was trying to take Deja away from him.

"Can I help you?" Darrell questioned.

"Yes, I do believe you can," Mort said in his southern accent. "I saw you with my girlfriend earlier and wanted to know what your relationship with her is?"

Darrell looked confused. Who was this country bumpkin? he thought. "And who might you be?"

"The name's John Shooter," Mort said, "and Deja Brown is my girlfriend."

It hit Darrell like a ton of bricks. This was the guy Deja had been dating. Didn't look like her type, but who was he to judge. Darrell wasn't up for confrontation tonight, so he wanted to get rid of this hick asap.

"Oh, it's not what you think," Darrell began, laughing, "I'm Darrell, an old friend of Deja's..."

Darrell kept talking, but by then Mort had zoned out. He was only focused on this guy's name. It was her ex, Darrell. The man who had put Deja through so much pain and suffering. How could she ever want to see him again? It wasn't making sense in Mort's mind. And it most certainly wasn't making sense to Shooter.

Mort had zoned back in at the end of Darrell's excuse "...so there's nothing to worry about, right?"

"Do you mind if we talk a little further?" Mort asked.

"Sure, come on in," Darrell moved to the side and let Mort inside his living room. "Have a seat and I'll get you a beer."

"Won't be needin' that."

"So, Deja never told me you were from the south," Darrell was trying to make light conversation, "where are you from?"

"Miss'ippi." Deja had told this guy about their relationship. It was so sacred to them, he'd thought. How could she?

Darrell had made his way back over to the couch across from the chair Mort was seated on.

"Have you and Deja been seeing each other?" Mort wanted to know.

"No, not really. We just recently began talking again," Darrell said nervously. The last thing he wanted to do was get Deja 'in trouble' with her new beau. And he knew if Deja's relationship with this guy ended because he did or said the wrong thing, Deja would be out for his blood. That was the last thing Darrell wanted. "But she basically said she had no interest in having a friendship with me," he quickly added.

"Well, that's good to know," Mort said, standing up, "but I've got to be 100 percent positive that you stay away from her."

Mort's positioning was making Darrell a little uneasy. As he began to rise from his couch, Mort lunged in his direction pinning him down. The two men began to wrestle when suddenly Darrell felt something cold and slick in Mort's back pocket.

"What the hell is wrong with you man?" Darrell screamed.

"Oh not as much as what's gon' be wrong with you, when I'm finished," Mort spoke in a calmed tone.

"I told you there was nothing going on with me and Deja," he was now gasping for air as Mort had him pinned to the floor.

"Well, I'm gon' make damn sure of that!" And with that Mort pulled the large knife from his pocket and pressed it into Darrell's chest. He slid the knife back out and repeated to stab him several more times. Blood spewed everywhere.

Mort couldn't keep track of how many times he'd stabbed Darrell, but he knew it was enough to kill him. By the time he was done, Mort was out of breath. He just wanted to roll over and go to sleep.

He lifted himself off the now dead body and made his way over to the kitchen sink. Careful not to touch anything with his hands, he turned on the faucet and cleaned the knife. He walked back to Darrell's lifeless form, picked up his hat and walked out the door to his car.

Mort drove back Tashmore Lake in a daze. Once there, he threw his clothes into the washing machine and took a long hot shower. He made his way to the bed and fell asleep and when waking the next morning he had no recollection of the night before.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Deja woke up the next morning completely refreshed. She had tried calling Mort before going to bed, but only got his machine. She missed hearing his voice, so she decided to call him this morning.

The phone rang. And before she could hear him say 'hello,' Deja yelled "Morning sunshine!" into the receiver.

"What?" Mort said groggily.

"Hey hon, we missed each other yesterday so I wanted to call you bright and early," she was way too perky for this time in the morning, Mort thought.

"Can I call you back after I've actually woken up?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied, a little saddened.

The phone line went dead and Deja just stared at it in her hand. She couldn't believe Mort. She knew he wasn't an early bird, but she just knew he'd be happy to hear from her. Needless to say, her feelings were hurt. She decided she would try to get through the day without this bothering her. Maybe Mort just had a bad night and he needed to relax before he could talk.

Mort finally woke up around 1 o'clock. He had the worst headache and the beaming sunlight coming in through the bedroom window was not helping. He staggered towards the window and pulled the shade down.

He slowly made his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Just before hitting the bottom step, he stopped short because of what he saw lying on his coffee table. It was the black hat that haunted to him for so long. He last remembered putting it in the trunk of his car. That was almost two years ago. What was it doing in his house?

He sat on his couch looking directly at the hat. He never touched it though. He didn't want to take the chance that his alter ego, Shooter, would come back. After the whole Amy incident, Shooter became a huge part of Mort's life. And then all of a sudden, he was gone. Mort had decided to put that part of his life behind him. He was moving forward, and when he really felt like his life was finally on track, Deja entered it. She was literally the best thing that happened to him. He couldn't allow Shooter to come back and mess that up.

Just then, his focus switched from Shooter and 'the hat' to Deja's wake up call this morning. He was way too out of it to talk to her then, but regretted the way he came off to her. He needed to call her and make sure she was okay.

After six rings, her answering machine came on. Mort decided to leave a message, "Hi Deja...it's me...sorry I was so brief with you this morning, but I was too worn out to carry on any kind of conversation. I do apologize though. Call me."

Because he felt like he needed to hear her voice, he tried her cell phone as well. It went straight to her voice mail. He figured she had it turned off because she was at work. He decided not to leave a message. He knew he'd talk to her soon enough.

Deja got home around 5:30 pm. After putting away her things, taking a shower, and finally settling in for the evening she saw that she had one message on the answering machine. She played it and heard Mort's voice fill the room. He was apologizing for this morning. She couldn't stay mad at him. She was partly to blame for waking him so early anyway.

She went back to her bedroom, preparing to do some reading before she went to sleep. Once seated comfortably in her bed with her book on her night stand, she picked up her cordless phone and dialed Mort's number.

Knowing it had to be Deja on the other end, Mort answered on the first ring with, "You're not mad at me, are you?" in the sweetest, childlike voice he could manage.

It immediately made Deja smile, and with a little chuckle she said, "No, of course not. I'm sorry for even waking you up that early. I just needed to hear your voice."

"I can't wait to see you next week," he said.

"Me either. I'm counting down the days."

"So, what are your plans for tonight?" Mort asked.

"Not much. I've got this book I'm reading, by this really great author," she paused, "let's see..." she pretended to look at the book jacket, "ah, Morton Rainey...yeah, that's it. I think I'm gonna try and finish it tonight."

"Hmmm, Morton Rainey. Never heard of the guy," he quipped back.

"Well, you should read his stuff, it could make the New York Times bestseller's list. Oh, and he's a real cutie too," Deja tried to remain as serious as possible, but she let out a small giggle.

"So I've got competition now?"

"Maybe...maybe not," she replied. Finally, in a completely serious tone she told Mort that she loved him.

"I love you too," he said equally as serious.

"And I'm really loving the book. I've only got like 40 more pages to go."

"I'm glad you like it. I always get nervous when people close to me read my work," he replied honestly.

"Well, I'm pleasantly surprised at your talent Mr. Rainey. But if you want me to finish reading it I suppose we better get off this phone."

"I hate to let you go...but I suppose I can talk to you tomorrow," and he quickly threw in, "but not before 10 o'clock."

They both laughed. "Deal," Deja said. "I love you, Mort."

"I love you too, Deja. Goodnight." And with that they both hung up. That conversation alone put her on cloud nine. The affect that Mort had on her was amazing.

After finishing the book, she decided to turn on the television and let it put her to sleep. She decided to put the Channel 9 news on since she had missed out on what was happening in the world all day. As soon as she began to drift off to a peaceful sleep, disturbing words filled her ears.

The news anchor was saying something about a wrongful death in the area. Deja focused her attention on the square screen in front of her bed.

"_...now we'll turn it over to Paula Thomas at the crime scene..."_

Just then a petite woman with long blonde hair came onto the screen.

"_I'm here at the Rivergate Apartment complex, where some time last night a fatal stabbing occurred. The body of Darrell Williamson, age 32, was found early this morning by his girlfriend Celeste Parker. Mr. Williamson was stabbed a total of 12 times in the chest. At this time the police have no suspects. We will have more on this story as it unfolds. Back to you Debra."_

Just then a picture of Darrell flashed across the screen. The anchor woman in the news room gave out the number to the police station in case anyone had any information.

Deja couldn't believe her ears or eyes. He was with Deja, just last night. She couldn't believe someone had actually killed Darrell. Her mind began to race as tears flowed from her eyes. Even though she didn't feel like she could be friends with Darrell, she didn't want anything like this to happen to him either.

If his girlfriend didn't find him until this morning, Deja figured she was the last person to have been with him. She was glad that they at least left each other on amicable terms. She pictured him waving to her as she drove off from the diner. Just then she figured that the police would be coming to her for questions. She was somehow going to get sucked into all of this. Which also meant she had to come clean with Mort and let him know she had been out with her ex. She could only hope he'd be understanding.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Deja's telephone had been ringing nonstop the entire day. She barely got any sleep the night before, so to keep from looking like a wreck at work she took the day off. She decided she'd get a head start on the police and go to them instead of waiting for them to come to her. But before she did that she wanted to call Mort and tell him what had happened.

It was around 8 am, and she knew Mort didn't like to be called that early, but this was a serious matter. The phone rang three times before Mort finally picked up.

"This better be good," he moaned groggily into the phone.

"It is," Deja replied timidly.

At the sound of her voice, Mort immediately perked up. "Didn't I say no calls before ten," he began to laugh.

"Mort," she paused, "I have something to tell you."

"Shoot."

"Okay, well...the night before last...I...um...I went to the movies with my ex, Darrell," she braced herself for Mort's harsh words.

Silence.

"Hello?" she asked, thinking maybe he hadn't heard her.

"I'm still here. You said you went to the movies with Darrell," he sounded so calm. Deja thought this may not be as bad as she once thought it would be.

"Yeah, well it wasn't a date or anything. He just wanted to hang out as friends. Totally innocent, I promise you. Well after the movies we went to the diner for some coffee. I told him that I didn't think he and I needed to continue on with a platonic relationship. I just wasn't comfortable with that..."

"So you're telling me now because you felt guilty?" Mort questioned.

"Well, sort of," Deja knew she was lying. Had Darrell's 'incident' not happened she would have never told Mort about that night. "Darrell was killed last night after I left him."

"At the diner!" Mort asked, in complete shock.

"No, at his apartment later that night," she began to tear up, "I heard it on the news after I got off the phone with you last night."

"Wow," was all he could manage to say.

"I know, I'm still in shock over it all. I'm actually on my way to the police station in a minute to let them know he was with me beforehand."

"Won't that make you look guilty?" Mort asked suspiciously.

"I hope not," Deja managed a small laugh, "I just feel like they're going to find out he was with me anyway, so I may as well get it over with, ya know?"

"Good thinking."

"Yeah, well let me finish getting dressed," she sighed, "You're not mad are you?"

"No, not at all. If you say it was totally innocent then I believe you." He sounded sincere enough, Deja thought. "I appreciate you telling me though," he finished.

"No problem. I want things between us to be out in the open. No secrets," she said, "Well, let me go. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Definitely. Deja?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Thanks, I really needed to hear that. I love you too." Deja hung up the phone, put her shoes and coat on and walked out of her house.

Mort couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He remembered seeing Deja with Darrell that night. He even recalled following Darrell back to his place. But after that, things began to get fuzzy. He tried his hardest to recollect what happened between the time of him sitting in his car at Darrell's apartment complex and the time he got back to Tashmore Lake. Just then it hit him. The hat, on the coffee table. Could Shooter have done this? Mort thought to himself.

"No way," he answered out loud, shaking his head.

He suddenly remembered something. He grabbed his keys and rushed out to open the trunk of his car.His worst fears had come true. He remembered putting the knife under piles of junk and now it was lying on top of everything.

Mort began to shake his head and pull at his hair. "No,no,no,no,no!" he kept repeating. "This can't be happening, not again!"

"Oh, but it is Mr. Rainey," the familiar voice said from behind him. Mort turned around to stare directly at Shooter. He looked the same. Tall, lanky, black hat, completely creepy.

"What do you want from me!"Mort yelled.

"Mr. Rainey, I think you'll be needin' to ask yourself that," Mort hated that southern tone.

"Well, I don't need you anymore," Mort said, "You can leave!"

"We'll see 'bout that." And with that Shooter was gone. Mort didn't want to believe Shooter was back. Especially now that everything was going so good in his life. He couldn't let Deja find out that he had anything to do with Darrell's death. He hoped Shooter had covered his tracks.

Deja had been sitting in the police station for about two hours now. She'd retold the same story at least four different times to about nine different people. She was ready to go home. Most of the police officers were thankful that she had come forward, but a couple of them kept eyeing her warily.

Needless to say, she was ready to go home. Just then a petite, Hispanic woman took a seat next her. Deja gave a slight smile, but she could tell the woman had been crying. Her eyeswerebloodshot and she looked liked she hadn't had sleep in the last five days. Deja could tell that underneath her stressed face she was a very attractive woman.

About 15 minutes had passed, when an officer came up to both women. At first Deja thought he was only talking to her, but then he looked at the woman seated next to her and asked her how she was holding up. Deja realized this woman must be Darrell's girlfriend, Celeste.

After the officer left, Deja turned to the woman and asked her, "Are you Darrell's girlfriend?"

She nodded, beginning to cry again. "I'm so sorry to hear what happened to him," Deja continued, "I'm Deja."

Suddenly, the woman's eyes turned to anger. "So you're the bi.tch he went to the movies with!" she yelled.

It startled Deja. She was not expecting that reaction. She was under the impression that Celeste knew he would be taking her to the movies.

Deja softly began, "Darrell said you told him to take someone else to the movies."

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't mean for him to take his ex!" her voice had escalated to a feverishly high pitch, "Plus, he told me he was taking his friend, Matt."

Deja couldn't believe what she was hearing. Darrell had lied to Celeste. Deja just knew he had changed, but this just proved that he was still a cheat.Still off in her own world, she was snapped back into reality with Celeste's maddening words.

"Bi.tch, do you hear me!" Celeste screamed.

"What did you call me?" Deja asked, her anger beginning to rise.

"You heard me! I bet you're the one that did this to Darrell," Celeste continued, standing up over Deja, "You probably threw yourself at himat the movies and he rejected you. I would bet money that you killed him!"

Deja couldn't hold back anymore, this girl was pissing her off. She slowly stood up and stared Celeste directly in the eyes. "I suggest you shut up, right now!" She'd kept her cool for long enough.

"Or what! You'll kill me too?"

This woman was a lunatic. Even though Deja knew she should leave the room to keep this situation from heightening, her anger got the best of her. Deja could no longer control her actions. The next thing she knew, her fist was in the air and it made sudden contact with right side of Celeste's face.

Deja's hand hurt like hell, but before she could even take the time to examine it Celeste came back at her. The two women were at it like cats and dogs. On the floor wrestling each other and screaming obscenities, they were finally pulled apart by about four officers.

What took them so long? Deja thought to herself. She couldn't believe this woman was attacking her in a police station. And accusing her of murder. They were led off in two different directions. She hoped she would never have to see Celeste ever again.

After sitting in the police station for another 90 minutes and retelling this story for the millionth time, Deja was finally allowed home. It was a long, tiring day and all she wanted to do was go to bed. She tried to calm her nerves by thinking of the nice, restful week she would have with Mort in the coming days. Those thoughts would surely get her through the day.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

A week had passed, and not much had gone on. Darrell's funeral service came and went. Deja decided on not attending because she knew Celeste would be there and she didn't want there to be a scene.

It was 6 o'clock in the morning and Deja was up and ready to go. Mort would be there in another 30 minutes or so and she was more than ready for their nice long vacation. Her bags sat patiently by the front door as Deja sat on her living room couch, pretending to be watching television. In actuality she was looking out the window every five seconds to see if she could spot Mort's Ford pulling up.

Before he even he had a chance to get out of his car good enough, Deja dashed out the house and greeted him with the biggest hug he'd ever had. He could tell she was delighted to see him. It made him feel good all over.

"Miss me much?" he said, laughing.

"Nah, not too much. I just enjoy going around giving people hugs," she laughed back.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Am I! I've never needed a break from my day to day routine as much before."

"Well then, let's not put this off any further," and with that he went into the house, grabbed her bags and they were on their way.

At almost 9 am, they arrived in Tashmore Lake at Mort's home. Deja got settled in, unpacked and then joined Mort outside on the front porch. It was too nice of a day to be cooped up inside. She had brought out with her two glasses of cold lemonade. It was just the refresher they needed.

Sitting down on the bench next to Mort she said, "There isn't enough food in the fridge to last us for the rest of the week."

After taking a sip of his lemonade, Mort suggested he drive into town to pick up whatever items they needed.

"You've been driving all day," Deja said, "Why don't you stay here and relax and I'll go into town. I know how to get there so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Well...if you don't mind..."

"Not at all," she said, winking at him. With that, she took her last swig of lemonade and headed in the house. She saw Mort's keys on the key hanger, grabbed them along with her purse and headed towards the car. She saw Mort exit the driver's side and walk in her direction. "Here you go," he said and handed her $100, "That should be enough."

Deja kissed him on the cheek, got into the car, and was on her way into town. Once she entered the store, she didn't feel all eyes on her like she did the last time. Maybe they remembered her, she thought. She took about 30 minutes to get all the necessary things and made her way to the counter.

She recognized the girl working there. "Hi...Diana right?"

"Yeah, how'd you kn...," Diana began, "Oh, you were here a few months back with," she paused, "Mr. Rainey."

"Yeah," Deja said happily. She began to unload her groceries on the counter so Diana could ring them up.

And then out of nowhere, Diana began to speak in a hushed tone. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"No," Deja replied, wondering what Diana wanted to know.

"It doesn't bother you...about Mr. Rainey?"

"Does what bother me?" Deja was confused.

"Well, you know..." Diana leaned in closer to Deja, "with the murders and all."

"What murders?" Deja asked sincerely.

"The four murders that happened here a few years back," Diana said it as though Deja had to know what she was talking about.

"I'm totally lost here," Deja confessed, "who murdered who?"

"You mean to tell me you don't know?" by now Diana had completely stopped ringing up Deja's groceries.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Deja was beginning to get frustrated.

"Forget I said anything," Diana said quickly. She went back to ringing up the groceries.

"What do you mean forget it? I need some clarification."

"Just forget I said anything, it's not important," she rang up the total, "Your total comes out to be $56.74."

"I'm not just gonna drop this," Deja said, ignoring Diana's earlier statements, "I want to know what these murders have to do with me."

"Look, just forget it. I'd appreciate it if you just paid for your things and left," Diana seemed to be getting nervous.

"Fine," Deja finally gave in. This shopping trip had turned in a strange direction and she was ready to leave. She gave Diana $60 and told her to keep the change. She rushed out of the building and put the bags into the car as quickly as possible. She cranked up the car and just as she was about to back up, she saw Diana run over to the passenger's side.

Deja rolled down the window to see what she wanted. "Look," Diana began, "you didn't hear this from me, and I beg you not to tell Mr. Rainey what I'm about to say, but about five years ago four people went missing. It was Amy, his wife; Ted, her boyfriend that she left Mr. Rainey for; Tom, a local; and this guy from the city named Ken," Deja was trying to take all this information in because Diana was in such a rush to spit it out, "they all had ties to Mr. Rainey. To this day no one has found their bodies. Everyone knows he did it, the police just didn't have enough evidence to put him away."

"What!" Deja couldn't believe her ears.

"If you don't believe me, you can go to the local library and research it. You should be able to come across some old newspaper clippings or something. Anyway, the guy is nuts and I suggest you leave him alone as fast as you can." And with that Diana ran back into the store.

Deja didn't know what to do with all the information she'd just taken in. It was too much. Mort a killer? She had to laugh at that thought. Just because these people went missing didn't mean Mort had something to do with it. She decided to go back to the cabin and ask Mort exactly what was going on.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

After pulling up in front of the house, Deja began to lift the bags of groceries out of the car. Seeing her struggle with the bags, Mort rushed out to help.

"Thanks," Deja said gratefully, letting Mort grab two of the bags.

They went inside and began unpacking. Deja was trying to figure out the right words to use when bringing up the 'story' Diana had told her. She didn't want to offend Mort in any way, so she decided to ask a general question and just let him go from there. The least she said, the better.

The couple had decided on having an early dinner and they began to prepare spaghetti. Deja figured no time like the present to get her questions answered. "Mort?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he looked up.

"Mind if I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"Well, I was just curious about your ex-wife...and...her disappearance..." Deja managed to finish.

"Oh," Mort said, completely caught off guard. "What did you wanna know?"

"I guess I was just curious about the details surrounding it."

"Well, where do I start...," he began, "Amy and I were separated for about six months, and I was living here at the cabin. One day I get a knock at my door and standing there is this guy named John Shooter. He accuses me of plagiarizing one of his stories, which I never did by the way." Mort took a deep breath and continued, "Anyway, over the next few weeks strange things start to happen. My dog is killed, our house, the one Amy was living in, gets burned to the ground, just lots of bad things. I know it's this guy Shooter doing it, but because he wasn't from around here, and I was the only one who'd seen him, there was no evidence to link him to the crimes. In the end, four people came up missing. Amy and her boy toy, Ted. Tom Greenleaf, the only other guy that had seen Shooter here in Tashmore Lake, and a bodyguard I'd hired named Ken Karsch. Shooter ended up disappearing so the police tried to pin it on me. It was absurd really."

"Why would they blame you for it?" Deja asked, completely engrossed in the story.

"Because I was somehow linked to every single one of the missing people, I guess."

"Has the Shooter guy ever come back to see you?" Deja was worried about this guy trying to come back and do her or Mort harm.

"Um...no, not really," Mort sounded unsure.

"Not really? What does that mean?"

"No, no," he shook his head, "haven't seen him since."

Deja got her questions answered so she decided to drop the subject. Something didn't quite fit right to her, but she shook that feeling off. The entire story creeped her out and she didn't want to spend her entire week here looking over her shoulder.

It was almost 11 pm and Deja was worn out. She got up from the couch, where her and Mort had been lying watching television, and began walking towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Mort asked.

"To bed. I'm beat," she answered, "You coming?"

"I'll be in later. I'm gonna try to get some more writing done." With that Deja went up the stairs and to bed.

She awoke to the faint sound of someone talking. She rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on the night stand on Mort's side of the bed. It was 3:43. Mort was still not in the bed. She thought it must be the television until she recognized Mort's voice. Was he on the phone? she thought. No, it's too late to be on the phone.

She quietly made her way over to the door and pressed her ear against it so she could hear better. At first, she only heard Mort, but then the second voice, also male, spoke up. Deja couldn't really make out what they were saying, but that didn't matter anyway. What she wanted to know was who this other man was.

As Mort was busily writing the next installment for his book, he heard a knock at the front door. He checked his watch. It was 3:20. Who on earth could be coming to see him at this time of night? He didn't want the knocking to wake Deja up so he quickly ran down the stairs and opened the door. To his disdain it was Shooter.

"Well, hello there," Shooter said walking past Mort into the house.

"What are you doing here?" Mort angrily asked.

"We've got some things we need to discuss, Mr. Rainey."

"Oh and what would that be?"

"That girlfriend of yours," Shooter looked Mort directly in the eyes.

"What about her?" Mort was becoming worried.

"Seems to me she's askin' too many questions." He took off his hat and placed it on the coffee table.

"About what?" Mort tried to play naive, but he knew exactly where Shooter was going with this.

"I suggest you don't supply that lil' lady with anymore details about me, or I'm gon' have to get real nasty with 'er."

"You," Mort said in a raised tone, "will not lay a single finger on her!"

"If you do your job and tell 'er to keep her nose out o' things that don't concern 'er, you won't have to worry 'bout me touchin' a single hair on that pretty lil' head o' hers."

And with that, Shooter picked his hat up off the table and walked out the door. Mort was still in a daze. He was finally brought out of it by a creaking noise coming from the steps. He turned around to see Deja standing there. Had she heard the entire conversation?


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Who were you talking to?" Deja asked.

"Oh, nobody...go back to bed, hon."

Deja proceeded to descend the staircase. She kept walking until she was directly in front of him. She could smell the whiskey on his breath.

"Have you been drinking," she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just a little Jack Daniels. Why?"

She paused, "No reason...just didn't know you drank..."

Mort began to laugh. "Deja, it's only a little alcohol. I am of age you know?"

"I know," she smiled, trying to make light of the situation, "just forget it."

Mort leaned forward and gave Deja a soft kiss right behind her right ear. He didn't want her to feel uneasy. And he was hoping she'd forget about what she'd heard. She smiled, obviously enjoying what Mort was doing to her.

He kept kissing her neck. "So...," she was losing her train of thought, "who...was at...the door," she managed to finish."

"Just a neighbor," Mort continued to nibble on her neck.

"Sounded like...he wasn't...too happy...with you." Deja could barely concentrate with Mort placing kisses all over her neck.

"Can we please forget about the neighbor?" and with that, Mort picked her up in both of his arms and carried her upstairs into the bedroom.

The next morning, Deja woke up before Mort. She decided to get up and make herself a cup of coffee. As she closed the door to the bedroom, she noticed Mort's laptop open on his desk. She wondered if he'd written anything else to his story since she'd last read it.

She sat down in his chair and moved the mouse. The computer came to life with Mort's story displayed on the screen. Deja looked to the bottom of the screen and noticed it was on page 158. He'd managed to get a lot done since she'd last read an excerpt.

"_The voices in David's head would not stop. He didn't know what to do. Over and over they repeated the same phrase: "Claire Must Die!" David knew that no matter where he went, the strange voices would follow. He loved Claire, but he wanted his mind to stop playing with him. In order for that to happen, he had to do it. He had to kill Claire. She would never understand. He wouldn't even try to make her understand. He'd just do it. One shot to the head and it would all be over."_

"All right, Morty boy," she said out loud, "we've gotta get you to start writing something else." Deja let out a loud sigh and went down to the kitchen to make her coffee.

At about 10:30 that same morning, Mort made his way downstairs. Deja had apparently already taken a shower and was no where in sight. He did however, notice that her running shoes were no longer at the front door. He assumed she'd taken a morning jog. He decided to make himself some breakfast and get back to work on his story.

He had been sitting in front of his screen for the last 15 minutes and the cursor hadn't moved. He had no inspiration. He wasn't in the mood to write, but he knew this story would bring him bestseller status. And with that, plenty of paychecks would start to roll in.

"This is one morbid story," he muttered to himself. After sitting there for another five minutes with still nothing new written on the page, he decided to give up. He headed for the shower and hoped that Deja would be back by the time he was done.

Deja loved staying here at Mort's house. Jogging was so much nicer when you had more than just trees to look at. The beautiful lake made it all the more special. She'd been running nonstop for about 30 minutes now and she desperately needed a break. She was bent over, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath when she heard something behind her.

Not sure of what the noise was, she ignored it. But something in her gut was telling her to get out of there. She began to walk back towards the cabin. Suddenly she heard another noise and a car door slam. Deja began to pick up the pace. She tried to remain calm, but her nerves were getting the best of her. She turned around to see a car coming up behind her.

She'd heard about women out for their daily jogs being kidnapped and thrown into cars by psycho killers. She was determined to not let that happen to her. She quickened her pace, doing a full on sprint. The car was right on her trail and began to honk it's horn at her. Maybe they just want to pass? she thought.

She moved to the side of the dirt road and stopped. As soon as she did, the car pulled up to her and stopped. "Sorry, hope I didn't scare you?" an elderly man asked.

"Can I help you?" Deja asked, still a little on edge.

"My name's Dave Newsome. Sheriff Newsome," he could see Deja's face relax. "I hear you're staying at the Rainey place?"

"Yeah," Deja responded quietly.

"I'm not sure if you know about your friend, Mr. Rainey, but..."

"Yes, I'm fully aware of what YOU people here in Tashmore Lake think of Mort, and I don't care to hear anymore about it," she said in a loud tone.

"Well, I just think you need to know what kind of man you're dealing with. I'd hate to see you up and disappear like Mort's EX-WIFE," Sheriff Newsome replied.

Deja had to silently laugh after that comment. He made it a point to stress the word 'ex-wife' as if she didn't know that Mort had been married before. Like that information would make her leave Mort. She rolled her eyes.

"Look, Sheriff Newsome. I appreciate that you're trying to look out for my well-being, but Mort and I are in love and I just don't believe that he did what you guys are trying to accuse him of...And further more I'd appreciate it if you didn't bother me again."

Deja began to slowly jog towards the house. She was tired of hearing these disturbing things about Mort. She had just forgotten about what Diana had told her at the store and now Sheriff Newsome was bringing it all back up again. Deja felt like she could trust Mort, but she wasn't sure of what to believe anymore.

Deja walked in the house and plopped down on the couch. She was completely out of breath and had a terrible headache. She called out to Mort, but got no response. She figured he was probably still asleep. She pried herself off the couch and went into the downstairs bathroom to search the cabinets for Tylenol. After finally finding it, Deja went to the kitchen, made herself a glass of water and took her medicine. She went back to the living room and lied down on the couch.

She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but when she awoke she found Mort staring at her intently. He was seated on the coffee table directly in front of her. Deja was a little uncomfortable with him staring at her in her sleep.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, yawning.

"Just a couple of minutes," he said softly, leaning forward to brush the hair out of her face.

"Where were you when I got back from running?"

"Here. I must've been upstairs writing," he answered.

"I called your name," Deja said.

"Sorry about that. When I get into my zone with writing, I kinda zone everyone else out," he smiled and laughed. "But I'm all yours now."

"Well, now that I've had my little catnap and you've gotten some work done, how about we take a swim?" she asked eagerly.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

"Let me just give my mom a quick call and I'll meet you in the water," as Mort went upstairs to change, Deja began to dial her mother's number on the phone.

"Hi mom!" Deja said, excitedly.

"Hi baby! It's so good to hear from you!" Janice was obviously happy to hear from her daughter. "How are things going with...mmmm...oh, what's his name?..."

"It's Mort, mom," Deja had to laugh. She normally told her mom everything, but things with Mort had been such a whirlwind that she barely had time to talk to her mom about anything.

"That's right, so how's the cabin?" Janice questioned.

"Oh, it's great mom. We're having lots of fun. We're about to go swimming in a minute, but I wanted to call you to see how you were."

"Well, I'm fine baby. Actually, better than fine. Richard is taking me to Montego Bay on Friday!"

Richard had been dating Deja's mom for about eight months now and Deja was pretty fond of him. "Montego Bay! As in Jamaica!" Deja asked.

"Yep! He just sprung it on me. Said he wanted to take me on a two week getaway. I figured since I didn't have a job and my only daughter is all grown up I may as well enjoy myself." Janice said.

"Well, that sounds like an awesome vacation. Tell Richard he gets lots of brownie points for that one," she said, "do you have your hotel information so I can contact you in case of an emergency?"

"Yeah, hold on," Janice left the phone and came back within a minute, "And an emergency is the only reason you better call," she laughed. "Okay...we're staying at the Sunset Beach Resort & Spa." Janice proceeded to give Deja the hotel information and after a little more girl talk the two said their good-byes.

Deja headed upstairs to change into her swimsuit. She decided to be a little more revealing today than she'd been on their last swimming adventure. She wanted Mort's eyes to bug out of his head when she walked outside. And for that reaction Deja knew exactly which bathing suit to put on.

Mort was sitting on the edge of the lake waiting for Deja to come out. Just as he turned around he saw her walking in his direction. She was truly a sight to behold. She had the most seductive walk he'd ever seen. Her bikini, if you can call it that, blew his mind. It was a knit material all in white. An itty bitty string bikini. And Mort loved it. Her long, dark hair flowed behind her. In this moment Deja was the most beautiful woman Mort had ever encountered.

She walked up to him, leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I wanna see you wet, Mr. Rainey." Mort had never seen the 'naughty' side of Deja, he was definitely savoring this moment.

He got up and followed her into the lake like a little lost puppy. Her walk, she knew exactly what she was doing. He couldn't wait to get her in the water. She threw the towel in her hand to the ground along with her sunglasses.

Instead of walking into the water, Deja walked up to the pier and dove in. The cool water overtook her body as she made her descention. She felt like she couldn't hold her breath anymore and she started upwards.

Once she broke the water's surface, she immediately began to look for Mort. He was sitting on the edge of the pier, dangling his feet over the water. Deja started to swim toward him.

Once she reached him, she looked up at him and began to tread water. "Not coming in?" she asked.

"I'm enjoying the view from here," he replied cheekily.

"Well, this big lake sure is lonely with you not in it," Deja replied in a breathy, Marilyn Monroe impression. She had the biggest pout on her face.

Mort couldn't resist, so he jumped in. After coming up for air, he swam over to Deja who had come a little further to shore so she could stand up. "I love you," Mort said as he swam up behind her.

"I love you too," she said as she turned around to face him.

They began to passionately kiss for what seemed like hours. Deja couldn't remember ever feeling like this her entire life. Mort's kisses were like honey. Sweet and slow. She could feel him trying to undo her bikini top.

Breaking the kiss she said, "Mort what are you doing?"

"What? This is my property. No one's gonna see," he gave her that sexy smile of his.

"Don't think so cowboy," Deja began to walk towards the house.

"Where you going?" he asked.

"Inside to shower. You coming?"

And with that Mort took off after her. He was not about to pass up the opportunity to get into the shower with her.

After a 'thorough cleaning,' they both toweled off and headed to the bedroom. "Where's my robe?" Mort asked.

"Not sure babe." Deja replied, looking through her suitcase for her hairdryer.

"Didn't you use it yesterday?" his temper seemed to be rising.

"Ummm...I think so...I'm sure it's around here somewhere..." She had become totally preoccupied with searching for the hairdryer and wasn't paying Mort much attention.

"Well do you mind helping me look for it!" The tone of his voice snapped her back to their conversation.

"Whoa, calm down will you? It's only an old robe..." she said nonchalantly.

"That OLD robe belonged to Amy!" he yelled.

"Jeez, I'm sorry Mort. I'll check downstairs," she said as she left the room. She couldn't believe what'd gotten into Mort. She'd never seen him this upset. It scared her a little.

Once downstairs she found what she was looking for. The tattered, striped robe was lying on the floor behind the sofa. Had she known it was Amy's she never would have worn it. But Mort had seen her with it on more than once and it never seemed to bother him. She figured his frustrations were just now coming out. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"I found it," she called up to him.

He came downstairs and snatched the robe from her hands. "If you can't take care of this properly then I suggest you don't touch it at all!"

"You've got an attitude!" Deja yelled back, "Why don't you stay down here and cool off! I'm going upstairs." And with that she ran up the stairs and slammed the door to the bedroom shut.

She couldn't believe he'd gotten that angry over the robe. It's not like she'd ruined it or anything. It was just misplaced. Mort obviously had some pent up anger about Amy missing. Although she wanted to talk to him about it, she knew this was not the time. She needed to be alone and figured he needed the same.

Swimming always made her tired and she figured a good nap is what she needed to relieve her tension. She woke up when she heard the bedroom door opening. She rolled over and looked towards the door. Mort stood there looking apologetic.

"It's been two hours," he began, "I figured I needed to come check on you."

Deja looked away. She was still upset about what happened. "Look Deja, I'm really sorry I upset you earlier. I didn't know that the robe missing would bring those emotions out of me. I guess I still have some issues I need to work out."

"Ya think?" she replied sarcastically, immediately regretting it as soon as she said it.

She heard Mort walking towards her. "You know, it's not easy for me to apologize. I'd think you could be a little more appreciative." Suddenly Deja could hear his voice begin to change. It was still Mort, but somehow different. She continued to listen as he went on, "Do you hear me!" he yelled directly in her ear making her jump up.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" she yelled back, getting off the bed and standing directly in front of Mort. She could see something in Mort's eyes change. It's like he wasn't himself anymore.

"Now I don't think you'll be wantin' to take that tone of voice with me, missy," his deep, southern drawl was out in full force now.

Deja began to back up slowly towards the wall. With every step back that she took, Mort took a step forward. "Mort, you're scaring me. Please stop talking like that," she pleaded.

"Oh, hon you've got me confused. The name's Shooter. John Shooter."

Just then, Deja realized this was the man Mort was talking to the other night. It wasn't some neighbor. Mort was talking to himself.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Deja had never been this afraid of anyone in her entire life. This was not the Mort she knew. She didn't know what was going on. She had backed herself into a corner and Mort was steadily approaching her. She slid down the wall and brought her knees up to her chest. She buried her head into her knees hoping that when she looked up Mort would be gone. No such luck.

Mort was now hovering over her as she began to tremble and cry. "Mort, please...you're really scaring me!" she had no where to turn to, all she could do was plead with him not to hurt her. He leaned down and began running his fingers through her hair. Deja was too afraid to look up. She didn't want to see those cold eyes of his staring back at her.

She silently begged him to stop. She knew she could get through to him. She was unsure of what exactly was going on and who this Shooter person was. Just then, she remembered hearing the name John Shooter before. From Diana. He was the man that Mort claimed was stalking him a few years back. He was the one that Mort was convinced had done something to Amy. Deja was more confused than ever before.

Just then she heard Mort walk out of the room. She jumped up and rushed to the door, but it was locked. She wasn't going anywhere. She made her way onto the bed and laid there in the fetal position, crying. She was trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. But nothing was making sense. Was Mort this Shooter person all along? Had he killed all those people? Or did he just now take on this Shooter persona? It was all too confusing for her. In the midst of her anguish she managed to fall into a deep sleep.

Deja had woken up about two hours later and it was pitch black outside. She felt completely disoriented and her head was pounding. She got up from the bed and walked to the door, she turned the handle and it opened. She poked her head outside to search for Mort. The house was completely still. She knew she had to get out of there. She loved Mort, but there was only so much she could deal with. She figured he needed time on his own to get himself right.

She quietly made her way downstairs. She figured if she could get to her cell phone she could call a cab to come pick her up. She could make her way down the road and have the cab pick her up there. She spotted her phone out of the corner of her eye. A wave of relief came over her. As she walked toward the coffee table to get her phone she heard a noise from the kitchen. Turning around she saw Mort sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of water in his hand. Damn! she thought.

"Hi, hon," he said casually, "Getting ready to call someone?"

Deja noticed he wasn't speaking with the southern accent. And his eyes didn't peer at her coldly anymore. "I...was...um...," she was at a loss for words. "Nothing, I was just looking for you." She didn't want him to know how scared she was. She was trying to play things cool. Maybe she could get away after things had smoothed over. She walked towards the kitchen and had a seat across from Mort.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

She gave him a confused look. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Excuse me?" she questioned.

"Well, I came up earlier to check on you and you must've been in the middle of a nightmare. I tried to wake you, but couldn't," he replied.

"You're joking right?" Deja knew Mort had to be lying.

"Um..no...why would I be joking?" he said, befuddled.

"You had me locked in the room! After turning psycho on me!" Deja felt good to finally get that out.

"Psycho? What are you talking about Deja?"

"Oh, so you conveniently forgot how you screamed at me about Amy's robe and how you claimed to be that guy Shooter!" Deja was attacking Mort in full force now. She was angry that he'd try to pretend like none of that happened.

"Deja," he said, "I do remember getting a little upset about Amy's robe," A little upset? Deja thought, "but what do you mean about me pretending to be Shooter? I'm really confused right now?"

"You're confused! How do you think I feel right now?" Mort could tell she was becoming irate. He needed to calm her down.

"Let me just explain to you the way things happened. Maybe it'll refresh your memory."

"My memory isn't the one that needs refreshing!" she yelled back at him. She was becoming upset all over again. She knew what had happened. He wasn't about to turn this around on her and make her think she was going crazy. That part of her life was over and she wasn't going down that road again.

"Listen," Mort said, interrupting her thoughts, "let me just explain things to you."

Deja didn't want to listen, but what other choice did she have? She decided to give Mort the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, fine."

"I thought you'd lost Amy's robe and yes I did become upset. And I apologize for that. I didn't think that robe still meant so much to me. I guess it was just pent up feelings coming out. Anyway, you went downstairs and found it. I came downstairs and I was so happy you'd found it and I felt like such an ass for raising my voice to you that I began apologizing profusely." He began laughing. "Anyway, you said you forgave me and that you had a terrible headache. I told you to go upstairs and try and sleep it off. After about 90 minutes or so I came up to check on you. You were tossing and turning like crazy. It actually scared me. I tried waking you but it was no use. I figured I'd just let you ride it out. And that's what happened."

Deja was thrown. She didn't know what to think now. Mort had to be telling the truth, he knew nothing of her nightmares. It had been quite some time since she'd imagined her dreams were reality. Ten years ago to be exact. She hoped she wasn't having a relapse.

Deja had excused herself from the kitchen and gone back upstairs to bed. She needed to do some heavy thinking. The only way she could clear up what was going on was to go back to when she was 16 years old. She didn't want to remember that time in her life because it was a difficult one for her, but she needed to recall it to go forward.

Deja had been admitted into the Warvey County Mental Institution just 12 days ago. She was still numb from everything that had gone on. She didn't want to be there, but her mother had told her it was in her best interest.

_She'd been having a difficult time adjusting to her high school. The kids picked on her because she was the new kid and kept to herself. She'd never been picked on or bullied before, but there's a first time for everything. Deja did her best to hide her pain from her mother, but after getting into a fight with a few of the girls from school, her face showed her troubles. _

_  
Janice took it upon herself to talk to the principal and teachers. She wanted the parents of the other girls involved as well. She wasn't about to let her daughter be mistreated in the safe haven that school is supposed to be. Janice had thought things had gotten better, but it's just that Deja became better at hiding her distress._

_The girls Deja had gotten into a fight with found out about their parents meeting with Deja's mother and the principal. They were none too happy. For the next two months or so, they tormented Deja every single day. She began to skip school on a regular basis to get away from it all. One day after being forced to attend school by her mother, who had found out Deja was skipping, she decided she would take her own life. She knew things would never get better at this new school and she was tired of the abuse. Her mother kept all their over the counter medication in her bathroom cabinet and she kept the liqueur in the wet bar in the dining room. Deja figured she could OD on those things and put an end to all of this._

_After putting her plan into action, she went to lie down on her bed along with a note apologizing to her mother. Deja never expected to wake up after falling asleep, but she did. She awoke to a sterile, white room. She could barely move, but managed to open her eyes. After studying her surroundings she came to the conclusion she was in a hospital room. Then she noticed her mother sitting in a chair across the room. She was fast asleep. Deja wondered just how long she'd been out of it._

"_Mom?" she said groggily. "Mom?" her voice still wasn't strong, but she managed to stir her mother._

"_Oh my God!" Janice rushed to her side, "You're awake! Thank God, I was so worried."_

"_How long have I been here?" Deja asked._

"_For two days," her mother replied sadly, "Deja...why would you want to take your own life?"_

_The tears began to stream down Deja's face. "I'm sorry mom, I didn't want to hurt you...but my life...it's just not going well..."_

"_Honey, I knew you had problems, but I didn't think they were this bad. I've been talking with some of the doctors here and they know of a good place where you can work out your issues..." she drifted off._

"_What kind of place?" Deja asked, becoming worried._

"_A hospital, if you will, for teens that have...issues."_

"_A mental hospital!" Deja was becoming worried. She needed to be at home with her mom, not in some loony bin. "Mom, please don't put me in there," she begged._

_She could see the tears begin to well up in her mother's eyes. "Deja, I have to...I...I can't handle this on my own." And with that her mother began to weep like a child. She was breaking down and Deja didn't want anything to happen to her mother. She decided to cooperate and go along with her mother's decision._

_Within two weeks Deja was checking into Waverly. She was pretty nervous because she wasn't sure of what type of people to expect here. She decided to blame those thoughts on too much television and to give this place a fair shot. _

12 days had passed and she was finally coming down from the high of medication she'd been on since her arrival. The doctors and nurses had told her it was mandatory, and not wanting to cause any trouble she didn't put up a fuss.

She was scared to be in this place with no friends or relatives to turn to. She wasn't sure of when she'd be able to speak with her mother again, and that was the scariest thought of all. Her body was telling her it was time to eat. She slipped out of the bed and noticed she was wearing a hospital gown. Her sweat pants and T-shirt were draped over a chair in her room. She quickly changed clothes and headed out of the room.

This was the first time she ventured out of her room alone and not sedated. As she headed in the direction where she figured the food was she passed many curious faces. None of these people seemed 'crazy' to her, but she was still uneasy. She walked with her eyes to the ground, when a girl walked directly in front of her.

The young, blonde woman stood in front of Deja and would not budge. Deja tried walking around her, but every step she took this woman took.

"Can I help you?" Deja asked, hoping to get rid of the girl.

"I'm Debbie."

"And?" Deja was in no mood for casual conversation.

"I'm trying to introduce myself," she said in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I'm not really up for introductions." Deja began to walk back to her room. Debbie decided to follow her.

"Look, you're gonna need some friends in here," Debbie said.

"And why is that?"

"The last girl that had no one but herself ended up at State," she stated, matter of factly.

"And?" Deja inquired.

"State's no place to be. This place is like a luxury suite compared to that."

"Well, Debbie," Deja said, looking Debbie square in the eyes, "I think I'll take my chances alone." And with that she went back into her room and closed the door.

Deja spent the next couple of months in solitary. She only left her room to fulfill her basic needs and for group counsel. Other than that she didn't bother with any of the other girls there. Debbie had seemed nice enough, but about a month after their meeting she had successfully committed suicide. Deja figured she was her only chance at a friend in this place.

Janice had come to visit Deja a few times and was happy with the progress her daughter was making. She wanted Deja to make friends while she was at Waverly, but knew that it would be a slow process. Deja was such a quiet person and since the incident at her last school, she'd become very passive and meek.

It had been about two full months since Janice had last come to visit Deja. She hadn't called in quite some time either. Deja was going completely insane with no one but the doctors to talk to. She desperately needed her mother, but didn't dare voice her concerns to the staff. They'd only use it against her to keep her there longer and she couldn't have that.

On that same day was when 'she' showed up. Deja was sitting in her room, fantasizing about what life would be like once she left Waverly, when she looked up and a young, red-haired girl appeared in front of her.

"How'd you get in here!" Deja was frightened by the girl's sudden appearance.

"You let me in," she said in a hushed voice.

"No I didn't. I've been sitting on my bed for the last hour or so," Deja answered.

"Then how'd I get here?" the girl asked, turning things around on Deja.

"That's a good question. But I'm more concerned with getting you out!" And with that Deja ran to her door and called for hospital security. No one came. The hallway was dark and seemed to be totally empty.

Just then the girl creeped up behind her, "They're not coming."

"Oh yes they are!" Deja yelled back. "You are gonna be in so much trouble."

"We'll see..." And with that, the girl moved past Deja and walked down the hall until she reached another room and entered it.

"What a weird girl," Deja mumbled to herself. She got into her bed and took a much needed nap.

In therapy that same day, Deja brought up the new girl. "So who's the red head?" she asked Jenna, the only person, besides the staff, that ever gave Deja a smile.

"Who?" Jenna asked, confused.

"You know the weird, new girl. She's got the long red hair all the way down her back?"

"No one new has been admitted in over a week," Jenna stated.

Just then Dr. Prince and two of the other patients joined them for their weekly group meeting. Before getting started, Deja decided to ask Dr. Prince about the new girl. But he'd never heard of her either.

Deja began to see the girl more often now. She called herself Patty. She was indeed a patient here, but no one else at Waverly seemed to know of her. Or at least they were making it seem that way. Deja was not going crazy, but to appease her doctors concerns she took the hallucination medicine they added to her list.

From what her doctor had told her, Patty was a figment of Deja's imagination. Deja would go to sleep and dream about Patty and wake up thinking it was all real. The doctors had told her that teens with severe emotional issues, that tended to keep to themselves, often made up imaginary people to keep them company.

Deja went along with the doctors' 'story' because she wanted out of Waverly. She felt like this place would only make a person crazier. She told them everything they wanted to hear, including the fact that Patty was gone. Which was a total lie. Deja was let out of Waverly about 11 months after her admittance. And for the next two years, Patty would still come to visit.

Deja wasn't sure what it was that made Patty leave. But all of a sudden her nightmares ceased. It was like she woke up one day as a brand new person. Although she was glad to be freed of this enigma, she also felt sadness. Patty had become a huge part of her being. Although she could only see her in her dreams, she always woke up remembering everything that happened. Her dreams had truly become reality, in her mind at least.

Now that Deja was a grown woman, she couldn't believe she might be dealing with these issues all over again. True enough, Patty wasn't in her dream, but Mort still said that she was asleep when she 'imagined' what had happened between the two of them earlier that day. And she'd never told anyone about her trip to Waverly. There was no way Mort could have known about that.

Deja was completely exhausted thinking about the events of the past day. After about another 40 minutes of wondering what could have really happened, she finally drifted off into a peaceful slumber.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Deja woke up the next morning to find Mort in bed with her. Her sleep must've been so deep that she didn't even feel him entering the bed. Even though the events of the day before still lingered in the back of her mind, she was glad Mort was there with her. She found it strange how the man that frightened her so much not even 24 hours ago, could still give her such a sense of security. Mort was definitely special.

She laid there just staring at him. His dirty blonde hair was tousled and he was still completely dressed. Shoes and all. She smiled as she thought about waking him with kisses. Just as she leaned towards him, he opened his eyes.

"Morning..." he yawned.

"Morning to you too," she replied.

He turned his head in her direction. "Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, a little..." she honestly answered.

"So were you able to make any sense of what happened yesterday?"

"I think so. Do you mind if we talk about it?" Deja really wanted to tell Mort about her past. Even if it meant opening up some old wounds.

He sat up, leaning his back against the headboard, giving Deja his undivided attention. She was a bit hesitant, but after letting out a long sigh she retold the story of her trip to Waverly County Mental Institution.

Mort was in total shock. He didn't know what to say. He thought Deja was so brave for telling him the details of her background. He leaned over and gave her the most heartfelt hug he'd ever given. He was grateful to her for being so honest with him.

"Thank you," he said, continuing to hold her in his arms.

Deja wasn't sure why, but at that moment she began to cry. She couldn't hold back anymore, she just wept and wept.Thankfully Mort was there to support her.

Finally, Deja looked Mort in the eyes and told him she was worried that the events of the last day were scaring her. She was afraid her past was coming back to haunt her.

"Deja, it was incredibly audacious of you to tell me all this. If there's something going on inside of you...a struggle if you will...just know that I plan on being there for you," Mort replied sincerely. He hated to see her in so much pain. If he could do anything to help her he would.

"I needed to hear that," she told Mort. And with that she leaned over and embraced him. Turning her head slightly she began to kiss Mort heatedly. The only thought on her mind was the taste of Mort's mouth on hers. She needed that, simple thoughts.

They finally broke the kiss, deciding it was time to get up and get ready. Mort suggested Deja take a nice long bath and relax. He'd be the perfect boyfriend and fill the tub for her and wash her if needed. She happily agreed.

After pouring in a few capfuls of bubble bath into the running water, Mort called Deja in. She walked into the bathroom with nothing but a towel on. After the tub was filled to capacity, Mort told Deja to get in. She let the towel drop to the floor as she entered the hot water.

Her hair was pinned up so it wouldn't get wet. She leaned completely back in the tub, letting the water engulf her. Mort seemed shy all of a sudden. It's not like he hadn't seen her in the nude before, but I guess this was different. He was totally clothed and she wasn't. She should've been the uncomfortable one, but it was him instead.

Deja closed her eyes and let her body unwind. Mort picked up the sponge, lying on the rim of the tub, submerged it into the water and began to wash Deja's body. He enjoyed watching her body react to his touches. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to feel her lips on his, but now wasn't the time. She needed to be completely relaxed.

Just then she sat up, giving Mort access to her back. He began running a trail from the nape of her neck to the small of her back with sponge. She let out a deep sigh. Just then Mort couldn't hold back anymore. He leaned over the tub and began placing small kisses on her shoulder. Deja was enjoying his advances. She leaned back against the tub once more so that she could look Mort in the eyes. He knelt down on the floor, dropped the sponge into the water and rubbed his right hand through her hair. His left hand was kept steady on the rim of the tub to keep him from falling in.

Their kisses intensified and Mort couldn't hold back any longer. He lifted himself up and proceeded to enter the tub. "What are you doing?" Deja asked worriedly.

"Getting in," Mort said with a sly smile. Deja began to giggle, "You're crazy."

"That makes two of us," he said as he winked at her.

Mort was completely inundated by the water and it began to flow over the edge of the bath tub. He began to kiss Deja with even more fervor. Her soft, wet skin underneath his body was turning him on more than he could have imagined.

She wrapped her legs around his body and pulled him closer to her. She could feel his want for her intensify. She had to have him right then and there. She began to feverishly pull at his clothes, making every attempt to remove them from his body. Noticing what she was doing, Mort got to work on the elimination of his raiments.

Once all of his things were lying, soaking wet on the floor next to them, Mort entered Deja with lust and passion on his mind. Feeling her warmth he wanted to explode. Looking deeply into her dark brown eyes, and continuing to thrust himself into her, he finally erupted. They were both spent and Mort's body had gone completely limp. He just lay there with his head resting on her chest, cradling her. Deja placed her chin on top of his head and traced her fingers across his back. This was the man she would be with forever, she thought to herself. She had told him about her past and he still loved her for it. She could never imagine Mort not being in her life.

After finishing their bath, Deja and Mort decided to take a walk together. They got dressed, had some cereal, and walked out the door. It was around 12 in the afternoon and the sun was beaming down onto them.

They had been walking for about 15 minutes when Mort suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" Deja asked.

"Nothing," he paused, "Can I ask you something? It's kind of serious..."

"Sure," Deja was curious as to what Mort had to say.

He leaned against a tree that was near the path they were walking. "What if I asked you to move in with me...here...permanently..."

Deja began to laugh. "You're not serious are you?"

"As a heart attack," he let out a nervous laugh.

"Mort, I have a house...and bills...and two jobs..." Deja was flabbergasted.

"Well, I was thinking you could quit your jobs and sell your house."

"Quit my jobs? How am I supposed to pay my bills?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking that until you sell the house, I could take care of your bills for you." Mort was too afraid to look into Deja's eyes. He didn't want to be rejected.

"And where supposedly are you gonna get all this money from?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Everything finally got settled with the burning down of my house. It took so long because Amy's parents were fighting me for the insurance money. Basically because she and I were in the middle of a divorce. But because I was still the legal owner of the house, and the cause was never determined the insurance company finally handed over the check to me. It happened a few months back. I wasn't sure what I'd do with all that cash, but spending this week here with you let's me know that I should use it for us."

"Wow," Deja was caught off guard. "So you'd just want me to hang around the cabin all year long with you?"

"Well, I figure I'll still keep my house in Datenville, that way we can go back and forth. And maybe you can get some part time work here in Tashmore Lake, only if you want of course, and that would be that."

"And what about the profit from my house, if I were to sell it?"

"Well, it's your house so that money would all be yours. Maybe you could use it for tuition, to go back to school..."

She couldn't believe Mort still remembered her telling him her desires to go back to school. She hadn't mentioned it a lot, but it was enough for him to bring it up. "Let me think about it, okay?" This was a big decision and something she needed to really think about.

"No pressure. I just want to be with you night and day and I figure this is the best way to do that." With that he walked over to her and placed a sweet, delicate kiss on her cheek.

Deja had been off in her world since they returned to the cabin. Mort decided to take a nap, before going back to work on his novel. Deja went outside to the porch and immersed herself in her thoughts.

True enough, she loved Mort. But was she really ready to move in with him permanently? The last time she moved in with a man, things went horribly wrong. But Mort and Darrell were two different people. Deja began to silently pray and ask God to guide her in this decision. She wasn't a particularly religious person, but whenever she had tough decisions to make she depended upon Him to lead her in the right direction.

She continued to sit there and stare out at the lake. She began to picture herself and Mort there. The things they could do there with one another. The location would be perfect for a wedding. And a family. Deja'd always dreamed of having three kids and a dog. That was the perfect dream life for her. Mort was trying to provide that for her and although she was hesitant she felt like she knew what decision she had to make.

She decided to wait another day or so before telling Mort of her choice. She wanted to be positively sure. In her mind, once the decision was made, there was no going back.

They spent the rest of that day on their own. Mort was cooped up with his computer and Deja watched a Chapelle's Show marathon. That show always made her laugh and put her in a good mood. After the marathon had ended, she looked at the clock and saw that it was already 10 pm. She couldn't believe how the day had gotten away from them so quickly.

She headed up the stairs and stopped next to Mort. "You've been working on that thing all day, you must be tired."

"Actually, I'm not," he went on, "I've been on a roll all day. The words have just been flowing from my mind to this screen," he said, pointing at the computer. "I think I'm gonna try to keep going until I either fall asleep or get writer's block. Whichever comes first." He smiled at her.

"Well, I'm beat. So I'm gonna turn in, but before I do I need to tell you something," she said.

"What's that?"

"Yes," she simply stated.

"Yes?" Mort was confused, "Did I ask you a question?"

"Have you forgotten already?" She loved playing games with him.

He sat there for a moment and pondered over what Deja was talking about. Then it hit him. His eyes lit up and an enormous smile took over his face. "Yes? Really?"

"Yes," Deja said, smiling. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her on top of his lap.

"Let me make sure we're talking about the same thing..." he said, laughing. "You're going to move in here...with me...permanently?"

"Yes! Don't make me say it again or I might change my mind," she laughed.

"You've just made me the happiest man in America...no, take that back...the universe!" He leaned forward and gave Deja playful kisses all over her face. She could feel his heart racing as his chest was pressed against hers.

"Well, Mr. Rainey," she said, as she got up from his lap, "I'm going to let you get back to your story and I'm gonna go to bed."

"Sweet dreams," he whispered to her.

"Oh, they will be," she said winking at him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

When Deja woke the next morning, she couldn't believe she'd actually agreed to move in with Mort. Her life was about to drastically change, for the better she hoped. Within the next few weeks, she would have to make a lot of readjustments. She looked over to Mort's side of the bed and noticed he wasn't there. His side wasn't even slept in. She placed her feet on the cold hardwood floor. She didn't realize how cool it had gotten throughout the night. She spotted the striped robe, Amy's robe, lying on a chair. She'd told herself she would never wear it again, but it was cold and she didn't feel like searching for something else to put on. If Mort had a problem with it he'd tell her and she'd know to never touch it again.

She walked out of the bedroom and had to laugh at the sight before her. Mort was passed out, his head on the edge of the desk. Deja couldn't imagine being comfortable in that position, but Mort looked liked he was used to sleeping like this.

Deja decided to have little fun with him. She snuck down the stairs, as quiet as possible, and pulled an ice cube from the freezer. Back up the stairs, like an expert cat burglar, she crept up behind Mort, and dropped the cube down his back. With a burst of energy, Mort jumped up from the desk trying to grab at the whatever it was that caused the cold sensation down his back. He didn't even notice Deja in her fit of laughter until after the cube was on the floor.

His hair was a complete mess and his breathing erratic. He hated to be woken out of a peaceful sleep, especially in that manner. He wanted to be mad, but Deja was practically on the floor laughing at him. He couldn't be upset with her, while she was obviously in a great mood.

"Oh, so you think that's funny?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

She could barely bring herself to talk, she was laughing so hard. "Y...y...yes!" she managed to get out.

Tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks. Mort found her laugh so genuine and he loved seeing her this way. "Well, I can't have making a joke out of me," he said, trying to sound as serious as possible.

Deja tried to straighten up, but every time she thought she had it together the laughter overtook her. Suddenly, Mort began to walk towards her. Seeing a devious look in his eyes, Deja began to walk towards the stairs.

"Oh no you don't!" He began to chase her down the steps. Deja made it all the way to the front door, but Mort was hot on her trail. She fumbled with lock and before she had a chance to step foot outside Mort grabbed her waist. He pulled off the robe and threw it on the couch. She was only in a pair of his boxers and a tank top now.

"I'm sorry," she pleaded, "I'm not gonna laugh at you anymore!"

Mort had to laugh at her attempt to get out of this, "It's a little too late for that." And with that, he scooped her up and began to walk towards the lake. She didn't put up much of a struggle, but if she would've known where he was headed she would've fought harder.

Catching a glimpse of where he was headed, she began to beg for forgiveness. "Mort, I'm sorry," obviously not being sincere because she was still laughing, "please don't! What do you want me to say? I give? Uncle? Please don't!"

"Too late," he simply stated. "This'll teach you to play with Morton Rainey." He was now at the edge of the pier.

"Mort, if you drop me, I swear I will never speak to you ever again!" The last thing she wanted to do was to be dropped into the lake on a cool summer morning. The water had to be bitter cold.

"Get ready," he smirked.

"Mort, please...I'm so, so, so sorry. I'll never do that ever again!" Then just as he was about to throw her into the water, she managed to grab his shirt and take him down with her. The water was even colder than she'd imagined it would be. After rising to the surface, she began to look for Mort. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Mort? Mort!" she called out.

Still no sign of him. She went back under to look for him, but the water was too murky. About 30 seconds had passed now and she was beginning to worry. "Mort! Answer me!" Just then she about 10 yards away she spotted something. She swam over to see what it was. The closer she got, the more her heart raced.

Only five feet from the 'object' her heart felt like it sank into the pit of her stomach. It was Mort, floating face down in the water. "Oh my God! Mort!" As she neared him, she remembered a swimming course she'd taken when she was about 18. She turned him over and couldn't feel him breathing. Turning over onto her back, and placing her left arm under his left armpit, she began to swim backward toward the shore. She wanted desperately to cry, but needed to keep calm during this moment.

Once she was able to pull him to shore safely, she kneeled by his side. She was out of breath, but had to pull herself together to administer some sort of CPR. She tried to remember what she'd seen on television about mouth-to-mouth, but her mind was working against her. She leaned over him, pinched his nose with her left hand, tilted his head back and placed her mouth over his. She began to breathe air into his body. Just then she felt a hand on her hip. It was Mort's hand. She turned back to look him in the eyes and saw a large smile cross his face.

"You jerk!" she screamed, hitting him in his chest.

Mort started to laugh, finding the situation hilarious. Deja's nerves were frazzled. She wanted to laugh along with Mort, glad that he was alive, but her mind was still not in it's right state. She left his side and walked toward the house.

"Deja? Deja?" Mort called after her. He ran to catch up with her. Grabbing her hand, just before she entered the house, he said, "You're not mad at me are you?"

She turned around and he saw the tears fill her eyes. She couldn't hold them back anymore. "Please Mort, I just need to be alone right now."

Still holding her hand, he said, "I was just messing around. I'm sorry..."

Deja couldn't hold back anymore. Her emotions got the best of her and she broke down. Her body sank down onto the porch floor and she began to openly sob. Even she didn't know why she was crying. She figured it was just the events of the last few days catching up with her.

Mort bent down next to her and cradled her in his arms. "Deja I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just wanted to play around with you. It'll never happen again, I swear."

"I'm not...even...sure why...I'm crying," she said crying and laughing at the same time. "I feel like such an idiot."

"It's my fault. I should've never played such a mean joke on you." Mort gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. "How about I let you put an ice cube down my pants every morning to wake me up?" He wanted to evoke a smile from her.

Thankfully, that little joke gave him the reaction he'd hoped for. Deja began to wipe the tears from her face and a small smile emerged. Looking him in the eyes, she said, "Make it two cubes and we've got a deal."

He loved her sense of humor. Just another thing to add to her list of wonderful attributes. Mort helped Deja to her feet and they went inside. She sat on the couch and Mort made her a glass of lemonade. As she began to sip the drink, she started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Mort asked, seated next to her.

"Oh nothing...just the fact that we're sitting here totally soaked," she answered.

Mort looked down at his clothing and it was true. He was sopping wet. He noticed the trail leading from the front door to his couch. In all the drama that had gone on, they'd both forgotten this all started because they were in the lake.

Finishing her drink, Deja said, "I think I better head upstairs into the shower before I make an even bigger mess in your house."

"OUR house," Mort added.

A wide grin overtook Deja's face at the words Mort just spoke. "Yeah, our house," she finished.

After a few hours had passed, Deja was seated in the living room flipping through a fashion magazine, while Mort was busily typing away at his story.

"Mort?" she called up to him.

"Yeah?" He answered too quickly, it must've meant he wasn't getting very far with his novel.

"I was just thinking...how soon would you want me to move in?"

"As soon as possible," he called back to her.

"I'd probably have to give my jobs two weeks notice."

"Well, if you call them both today, then you could get half a week over with."

"Good thinking." And with that, she walked over to her purse, pulled out her phone and made the necessary calls. The job at the insurance agency took it rather well. Business hadn't really been booming lately so Deja leaving was no great loss. They didn't even require the two week notice. As soon as she came back to town she was free to get her things and go. 'Lucy's' wasn't that easy. Mike needed all the help he could get and Deja was certainly going to have to work her week and a half until he could find a replacement. She didn't mind though. Mike was almost like family to her and she actually liked working at the diner. She was definitely going to miss that job.

"So, what did they say?" Mort called down to her after hearing her hang up with Mike.

"Well, a two week notice won't be needed at the insurance agency, but Mike's gonna need me until he can get a replacement."

"And about your house?"

Deja had totally forgot about having to put her house on the market. She'd thought about doing it a hundred times before, but never managed to get around to it. That place was too big for her anyway, this was the boost she needed to get rid of it once and for all. "I figure I can call Stanley, a regular at the diner. He's in real estate and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help me out with all of this."

"Oh really?" Mort asked suspiciously.

"It's not like that Mort," Deja couldn't help but to laugh at Mort's jealousy. "Stanley's an older guy, almost like a father figure. After knowing him for a while now, I've told him all my sob stories about Darrell and dropping out of school. He'd be thrilled to hear of my plans to move here and go back for my degree."

"Well, then. Since he's no threat to me, then I guess we better give Mr. Stanley a buzz."

"He comes into the diner every morning before work, so I'll be sure to talk with him about the house next chance I get.

Things were falling into place perfectly, Deja thought. She was finally about to give up a life she knew so well, for something as whimsical as this. She wasn't sure what the future had in store for her and Mort, but she was more than ready for it.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The next morning Deja decided to go back home and get some loose ends tied together. She didn't have to be at work for three more days, but she could clean out her desk at the insurance agency and start her packing. Mort offered to come along, but she figured he'd be too much of a distraction. With him there she definitely wouldn't get anything done.

The normally boring drive back wasn't so bad because she had a lot on her mind. She was a little hesitant about telling her mother that she was moving in with another man, but Janice was out of town so Deja didn't have to worry about that for at least another week.

She pulled into her driveway, got out her suitcase and walked through her front door. Even though she enjoyed the last week, it was nice to be home again. Even if it wouldn't be for long.

After unpacking, she headed to her primary job, cleaned out her things and said her good-byes. Everyone there seemed genuinely happy for her and she was reassured that she'd made the right choice by moving to Tashmore Lake.

The rest of her day was spent packing up most of the clothing that she wouldn't need over the next week and a half. Mort had called her during one of his work breaks and the conversation lasted about two hours. That gave her even more motivation to go on packing. The night ended with Deja sprawled out on her living room couch with the television on and masking tape in her hand.

It was two days before Deja's final return to Tashmore Lake and she was working a double shift at the diner. She loved working there, but couldn't wait to leave. She'd spoken with Stanley about four days ago, and he was more than happy to list her home with his real estate company. He figured he could get it sold within two months and for a pretty good price too. Most of her things were packed up into boxes and Mort would be on his way with a U-Haul truck in a little less than 48 hours.

The diner had been busy for most of the day, but it was an hour before closing and things had slowed drastically. Deja and two other waitresses were there that night. Mike didn't need all three of them to close up, so he told Deja she could go home early. It was her last night and Mike figured she'd need some extra time at home to finish things up. He'd found a replacement for her in no time, and although he was sad to see her leave, he was glad to she'd waited until he found an alternate.

After a very teary good-bye, Deja made her way out to her car. She cranked up the car and made her way home. After leaving the parking lot, she spotted a car with it's high beam lights drive up behind her. The car seemed to come out of nowhere. She decided to speed up, but the car following did the same. The high beams were distracting her. She figured if she slowed down to a good 15 miles per hour the driver would become frustrated and pass her. No such luck. Suddenly she feels a jolt from behind. The car was rear-ending her. Deja had never been in a situation like this and it really scared her. She wasn't sure if she should lead this 'psycho' straight to her house.

Remembering she had her cell phone with her, she instinctively reached for it and dialed Mort's number. Hearing Mort's voice on the machine let her know he was either asleep or busy working. She hoped her voice on the machine would make him answer.

"Mort? Mort...please answer, it's an emergency!" The car was still following and had slightly rear-ended her at least once more.

"Mort! Please!"

"Hello! Deja, what's wrong?" He sounded fully alert and out of breath. He must've run to get the phone.

"Mort, some idiot is tailgating me and I'm really scared!" Her nerves were completely shot.

"Calm down, hon. Tell me exactly what's happening, but keep your eyes on the road." Mort wanted to remain as calm as possible. He needed to the strong one in this instance.

Taking a few deep breaths, Deja began, "I was leaving from work early, when this car comes out of nowhere. They've got their high beams on, totally distracting me. Well I sped up hoping I could out drive them, but then they sped up too! Then I slowed down, wanting them to pass, and they slowed. Then I felt a sudden jerk and it was because they rear-ended me! I'm basically driving around aimlessly because I'm scared to go home. I don't want whoever it is to follow me home," he could hear her voice begin to quiver. She was on the verge of crying.

"You should've called the police," Mort said.

"I know," she said, full on crying now, "but you're the first person that came into mind. I only feel 100 safe with you."

"Okay, just do me a favor?"

"MmmHmmm," she replied.

"Calm down, take a few deep breaths and pull over onto the side of the road," he instructed.

"Do what!"

"Just listen to me." He waited for her to let him know that she'd followed his directions. "What is the other car doing?"

Deja looked into her rearview mirror and saw the other car begin to slowly creep by her. She was so happy she had tinted windows on her car. She could see out perfectly, but at this time of night it was nearly impossible for anyone else to see in. "The car is driving past me very slowly," she whispered into the phone.

"Can you see the driver?" he asked.

"It's really dark out, but it looks like a woman."

"I've got a pen and pad, as she drives by call out the license plate number."

"Okay, it looks like...655...ZRA," she waited to hear a response from Mort.

"Okay, now get back on the road, and head in whichever direction the police station is in," he said. "Let the police know what happened and give them this number."

"Mort?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Do you really think they'll do something about it?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but at least they can let you know who it was."

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you," she seemed a little more relieved now that this whole ordeal was over. "Mort?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got another call coming in, I'll call you back after I leave the station," she said.

"No problem babe."

"Hello?" Deja said clicking over to the unidentified call.

"I suppose you got a good look at my car, huh?" It was a female voice that Deja didn't recognize. She immediately looked into her rearview mirror, but there was no sign of the car.

"Who is this!"

"Don't you worry about who I am. Just know that if you try to contact the police about this little occurrence that things in your life will become miserable," the voice said matter-of-factly.

"What do you want?" Deja was trying hard not to break down, but it was hard.

"I hear you're leaving town, and that's probably for the best, but I just wanted to have some fun with you before your departure." The woman began to cackle like a witch. It sent shivers down Deja's spine.

"So I won't be seeing you again then?" Deja asked.

"That remains to be seen. You may get a visit from me every now and then, but if you tell anyone about this I promise you it'll be much worse than just a visit."

"Why should I trust you!" Deja screamed into the phone. "If I go to the police right now I can find out who you are and turn you in!"

"That is true...but it would take the police some time to do anything about it, by then I could have already done my dirty work in Tashmore Lake, with your little friend. What's his name?" she paused, "Mort is it?"

Fear shot through Deja like a jolt of lightening. How did this person know about Mort? As if reading her mind, she said, "I bet you're wondering how I know about you and Mort, huh?" Not even waiting for a response she went on, "If you hang around a diner for so long, there's a lot you can find out about the people that work there."

Deja's fear was turning into anger. "If you touch him I swear I'll kill you!"

"Ooohhh, touchy touchy. Well, if you tell the police on me, you can bet that either he or your mom's gonna get it!"

Now this bit.ch was bringing her mother into it. She felt defeated. She was sure she could go to the police, but didn't want to take any chances. This person could've been on their way to Tashmore Lake at that very moment. Deja finally decided to give in.

"Fine," she said, sounding defeated. "I won't go to the police about this, but promise me that you'll leave me and my family alone!"

"A deal? Don't know if I want to work out a deal with you." After a pause that seemed to last forever, the woman agreed to Deja's terms and hung up.

Mort hadn't heard from Deja all day. The incident with the driver was last night, and he figured she just had a long night at the police station. He was up early and decided to call her this morning.

"Hi, hon," Mort said as Deja answered her cell phone. Her land line had been disconnected for about three days now.

"Hi Mort." She was still half asleep, but suddenly remembered she was supposed to call Mort back last night.

"So what happened with the police last night?" he inquired.

"I didn't go." Something in her voice didn't sound quite right to Mort.

"Why not?" Mort was becoming worried.

"I thought about it and it just didn't seem that serious in retrospect," she lied. She didn't want to get Mort upset about what really happened.

"Deja, you know I can tell when you lie. Just be honest with me."

"Well..." She didn't want to tell Mort the truth, but she was a pretty bad liar so she figured she may as well be honest. Deja went on to tell Mort the entire conversation she'd had with the driver. Reliving it was scaring her all over again. She prayed she never had to run into that car again.

"I can't believe she did that to you!" Mort yelled. His heart rate was increasing and sweat was beginning to form above his brow. He could handle himself, but he was worried if this person tried to harm Deja or her mother.

"Mort, I'm okay. I just didn't want this to upset you," she said.

He took a deep breath and began to plot what he needed to do. "Deja?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"You did the right thing."

"I did?" Deja thought Mort would force her to go to the police, but she thought he must've understood that things would be best if they were kept quiet.

"Yeah, it's best if we let this little matter go away quietly."

Deja was stunned. Mort had really thrown her for loop on this one. He never ceased to amaze and surprise her.

"Look hon, I've gotta get some stuff taken care of. I'll be by in the morning with the U-Haul okay?"

"Okay, see you then...roomie," she let out a giggle. "I love you, Mort."

Just before hanging up he told her, "I love you too."

Mort's mind was in overdrive at the moment. He was barely able to focus on the latter part of his conversation just then. He was becoming Shooter at that very instant. Thankfully, it was still early enough in the day for him to get things taken care of.

This 'driver' was not going to get away with this. Mort figured he could use the license plate number to get more information on who this person was. Nowadays you could get almost anything from the internet. He'd go to the public library and get whatever information he needed and then he'd carry out the rest of his plans. This person, whoever she was, would never speak another word to Deja.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22 **

Mort had spent most of the morning at the library on the internet. He didn't think it would take him this long to come up with the name of the driver, but it did. Around 11:30 he finally came up with a name and address. Celeste Diaz. He didn't recognize the name or address, but he knew what he had to do. It was time to pay Ms. Diaz a visit.

He pulled up across the street from her house around 2 pm. He didn't see a car in the driveway so he decided to just wait until she came home. Unfortunately, it turned out to be around 8 pm until a car finally pulled up. Luckily, Mort stopped by Wendy's and picked up some food to go. He was nice and full and ready confront Deja's stalker.

A petite woman with long, curly dark hair stepped out of the vehicle. The license plate number matched the number Mort had written on a piece of paper. It was time to make his move. He waited another five minutes, got out of his car, checked his surroundings to make sure no one was watching and proceeded toward the house.

He had to ring the doorbell twice before getting an answer. Just then the door flung open and the same woman from before, only now dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, stood before him.

She must've been embarrassed by her appearance because as soon as she saw Mort standing there she began to comb through her hair with her fingers.

A large smile crossed her face. "Hi, can I help you?" she asked.

"Um...my car," Mort began, in his southern accent, pointing towards his Ford, "stalled out on me. Mind if I use 'ur phone?"

"Well," she eyed him suspiciously, " I don't normally let strangers in, but I guess I can make an exception." A sly grin made it's way onto her face. Mort couldn't help but think she was interested in him.

Following her into the house, Mort saw that her home was very nicely decorated. She seemed to have pretty good taste, but was a bit vain. He spotted pictures of her everywhere. She was attractive, but all this was a bit much.

"Here you go," she said, pointing to the phone.

"Thanks," he gave her slight smile. He picked up the phone and dialed one of those fake television, 555, numbers. He pretended to talk with a tow truck company and then hung up.

"So, they should be 'ere in 'bout 20 minutes," he told her. "I'll just wait in the car."

"Don't be silly," she began to laugh. "Sit here, I'll get us something to drink."

She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with two beers. My kind of girl, Mort thought, laughing to himself.

"So, where are you from? I hear an accent," she said.

"Miss'ippi," he smiled at her warmly.

"I've never been down south before," she paused, "but if all the men there look as good as you I might need to make my way down there." She began to giggle. She was laying it on thick, Mort thought. He couldn't wait to get the dirty work taken care of so he could leave.

"You know," she kept going, "I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Celeste." She held out her hand to him.

"Shooter. John Shooter," Mort said, shaking her hand.

"So, Mr. Shooter, do you have a lady friend in this area?"

"Um...something like that," he took a swig of beer from the bottle.

"Oh," a look of disappointment crossed her face.

Mort figured he should go ahead and make his move. He slowly lifted himself off the chair next to the sofa, where Celeste was seated.

"Need something?" she asked.

"Nope." And with that, he pulled the same knife that had ended Darrell's life out from behind him and sliced her in her left arm.

A look of horror came over her face. "What are you doing!" She stumbled onto her feet, holding her bleeding arm with her right hand, and tried to make her way across the room.

"Lil' missy, you tried to hurt someone I love, an' I don't take too kindly to folks doin' that."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" she screamed. She made her way past Mort and just before reaching the door, Mort grabbed her by the hair and flung her to the floor. She let out a bloodcurdling yell.

"Get up!" Mort yelled at her.

"Please don't hurt me," she began to cry. "I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt me."

"I'm not gon' tell you again! Get up!" he yelled, louder than before.

Celeste looked like a deer caught in headlights. She didn't know what to do. She decided it would be better for her to go along with what he said. She didn't want to increase his anger. She slowly got back onto her feet and looked him in the eye, letting him know she was at his will.

"Now, sit down," Mort instructed her.

She made her way over to the chair Mort had been sitting in and lowered her head.

"Do you have any rope?" Mort asked.

Trying to pull herself together, she managed to say, "No."

"Where's your linen closet?"

"Why?" she asked.

"Don't ask questions! Where is it?"

His yelling startled her. She pointed to where the linen closet was. Never taking his eyes off her he made his way to the closet and pulled out two white sheets. He made Celeste get up and show him where she kept the scissors. After going back into the living room he stood and watched as Celeste began to cut the sheets into long strips. She probably could have tried to attack him with them, but those scissors were no match for his knife.

After successfully cutting them up, she handed the scissors and torn pieces of fabric to Mort. He took the first strip and blindfolded her. He didn't want her to see any of what would happen. Next, he used the remainder of fabric to tie her up. He didn't think to bring rope so this was the best he could come up with at the spur of the moment. It seemed to work pretty well.

Celeste was bound the chair with her hands tied behind her back. She would never get out of this. Now it was time for Mort to get some answers.

"So, we need to talk," he said.

"Whatever...I'll tell you whatever you want to know," her voice quivering.

"Good then...why are you stalking Deja?"

Celeste was caught completely off guard. "What!"

"You heard me!" Mort was growing impatient, "You better start talkin' or this is gonna get a lot worse."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She was frantic, and wasn't able to think clearly.

"Let me refresh your memory then." Mort retold her the story the way Deja had told it to him. He could tell, by the end of the story, that Celeste knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I'm sorry. I never intended to hurt her. I just wanted to scare her a little."

"Why?"

"Well, she was seeing my boyfriend...and to be honest...I think she had something to do with his death." Celeste suddenly began crying again. But this was different. It seemed as though she was crying for Darrell.

Suddenly it clicked in Mort's mind that this was Darrell's girlfriend. He briefly remembered Deja mentioning that Darrell was involved with someone. His eyes roamed around the apartment. A picture sitting on the corner of the fireplace mantle confirmed his suspicions. He walked over to it to get a better look. It was a picture of Darrell and Celeste sitting in a park somewhere. The wind was blowing and Celeste was resting her head on Darrell's shoulder.

Mort made his way back to Celeste and crouched down beside her. "Hate to burst 'ur lil' bubble ma'am, but Deja didn't do Darrell in."

A look of terror washed over her, she never said Darrell's name. Somehow this guy knew what was going on, she thought. She could feel him breathing on her.

"It was me all along, Deja had nothin' to do with it." Mort stood up and reached for his knife lying on the coffee table.

Celeste's tears were falling like running water. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. But I never planned to hurt Deja, I swear!" She knew she had to beg for her life. She didn't want to end up like Darrell.

"Do you believe in God?"

The question caught her off guard. "Yes," she sputtered out.

"Well, it's time to meet your maker then." Mort plunged the knife deep into Celeste's left shoulder blade. She tried to move, but the bondages kept her in place. Mort continued to thrust the knife into her body. He would not stop until her body was lifeless. The blood was dripping from all over her. She was almost unrecognizable.

After about ten minutes, Mort's work was complete. He looked at the clock. It was going on 11 pm. He had to get back home. He walked to the kitchen to clean the knife, came back into the living room to survey the room. Looking for anything that could link him to the crime and finally made his way back to his car.

Early the next morning, Deja was taking care of her last minute needs. Mort had told her he'd be there around 9 am or so, and she wanted everything done by then. It was a gorgeous day outside so she walked out to her front steps and sat there enjoying the view along with a cup of coffee.

About 30 minutes had passed and still no sign of Mort. It was 9:15 and Deja was checking her watch every two minutes. Even though Mort said he'd be there around 9, she assumed he'd be there earlier.

She'd give him another ten minutes before she called his house. For his sake he better not still be asleep, she thought. Ten minutes later, she made her way inside the house to call Mort. She began to dial his number when she heard a honk from outside. It was coming from a large U-Haul truck.

She hung up the phone and rushed outside. Mort was already out of the vehicle and was making his way towards her. She threw her arms around him and gave him an ardent kiss.

"You were ten seconds away from getting punished," she laughed.

"Oh really?" Deja could tell he was thinking naughty thoughts.

"Alright Mort, let's get this stuff moved," she said breaking his train of thought.

For the next three hours, Deja and Mort managed to squeeze all of Deja's things into the truck. They had already decided that some of Deja's belongings would replace Mort's, since hers were newer. The things they couldn't find a place for, would be sold to the local used furniture store.

Mort drove the truck and Deja followed him. It was a long, boring drive and Deja was glad when it was finally over.

By about 9 pm that night, most of her things were moved in and unpacked. They took a few small breaks throughout the day, but wanted to get most things accomplished before bed.

They were both sprawled out on the couch, too tired to go upstairs. Mort looked over at Deja and smiled. He was happy to have her living with him. Seeing her lying on 'their' couch overwhelmed him. She was the most intriguing and beautiful person he'd ever come to know.

His mind began to drift to more macabre thoughts. He woke up very early that morning and had a dreadful headache. He tried his best to recall what happened, but only came up with bits and pieces. From what he recalled he paid a visit to the woman that was following Deja the other night. He couldn't quite make out what she looked like, but he knew he had hurt her in some way. He didn't remove his clothing from that night and blood was all over him. Thankfully, he woke up early enough to clean himself up and get rid of the clothing that couldn't be cleaned by just a wash.

"What are you thinking?" Deja said softly, interrupting Mort's thoughts.

"Huh?" Her voice snapped him back into the here and now.

"You look deep in thought, just wanted to know what you were thinking."

"Just that I'm really happy to finally have you all to myself...and that I'm tired as hell." They both broke out into fits of laughter.

"Well, I say we stay on the couch for the night," Deja suggested.

"You'd be comfortable here?" he asked.

"I have slept on a few couches in my day, ya know?" Smiling at him she grabbed the blanket lying on the edge arm of the couch, laid down next to him and pulled the spread over them. That was the best night of sleep either of them had ever had.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Deja and Mort had been living together for 13 days now and things were running smoothly. She'd told her mother about it and she took it pretty well. She couldn't wait until she finally got the chance to meet Mort. She'd spoken with him over the phone a few times, but that wasn't enough.

Deja loved living with Mort but, there were a few bad habits she was learning to deal with. But she figured she had to be getting on his nerves about some things as well.

Sitting around the house was driving her nuts. She and Mort had discussed her getting a part time job before she went back to school in the fall. She had already checked out the local college and their programs. She could work and go to night school once classes started.

Mort had taken a trip to the city to meet with his literary agent and Deja was bored. She decided to drive into town and see where she could fill out applications. She enjoyed working at the diner back home, so her first stop was at a small place called 'Dale's Diner.'

She sat down on the bar stool and waited for the waitress to come over. A short, heavyset woman of about 50 made her way over to Deja.

"What can I get ya?" she asked.

"Actually, I wanted to know if you all were doing any hiring?"

"Not at the moment. We just hired our newest girl about three weeks ago. I hear they need someone over at 'The Lounge' though." She pointed out the window to a small bar across the street.

"Thanks," Deja said. She left the diner and made her way to 'The Lounge.' It was very dark inside. The door slammed shut behind her and the only two customers in the place stared directly at her.

"Sorry," she winced.

She walked up to the bartender and asked for the manager. After a few minutes passed, a very attractive man came out. He was about six feet tall, had short blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes.

"Hi," he said, shaking her hand, "I'm Todd Baker, the owner. Ralph said you wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I'm Deja Brown and I just wanted to know if you all were doing any hiring?"

"Yeah, actually we are. I'm looking for a waitress and bartender." He gave her the warmest smile. Deja immediately felt at ease with him.

"Well, I don't bartend, but I'm pretty good waitress," she said, smiling.

"You have a beautiful smile, if you don't mind me saying."

"Thanks." Deja could feel her face growing hot with embarrassment. She wasn't used to men being so forward with her. "So," she said, trying to take attention away from his last comment, "can I fill out an application?"

"That's not necessary."

"Why not?" she asked.

"I've had that 'Now Hiring' sign outside for three weeks straight and you're the first person to inquire about it. You've got the job."

"Just like that?" Deja had to be sure she was hearing correctly, this seemed too good to be true.

"Yep, just like that." He gave her a sweet smile. "When can you start?"

"Well, I hadn't really thought about it," she admitted, "I wasn't really expecting to get hired today."

"Let's see," he started, "today is Tuesday...if you could come back on Thursday we could start the training process. My sister, Lilly, works her shift that night and she is the best at training newcomers."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Deja replied excitedly.

"See you around 4 pm then, Deja?" Her name seemed to roll off his tongue like butter. The way he said it was so smooth. She wasn't sure if it was a wise choice to take a job with him as her manager. She figured their was only way to find out, and that was to take the job.

"Yeah, that'll work."

They shook hands again and Deja made her way to the door. She glanced behind her as she walked out and Todd was still watching her.

Deja was lying on the floor doing her pilates workout when Mort walked in. It was about 9 pm and he looked completely exhausted. He was glad to finally be home.

"Hey, sweetie," Deja said, as he laid his things down by the door.

"Hi," he answered.

"How was the meeting with your agent?"

"Good. She likes the direction the book is taking and thinks it'll be a hit," he said, smiling at her.

She did the last of her excersizes and joined Mort in the kitchen. "There's some baked chicken, asparagus, and mashed potatoes in the fridge," she said.

"You cooked?" he asked, obviously surprised.

"Don't be so shocked, I do have some skills," she laughed. "Oh and I've got some more good news."

"And what would that be?" Mort began removing the leftovers from the refrigerator and piling them onto a plate.

"I got a job!" A huge smile spread across Deja's face.

"Where?" Mort was now very interested in what Deja was saying. He couldn't believe she was able to find work so fast.

"This place in town called 'The Lounge.' Ever heard of it?"

"Yeah," he said, "I've been there a few times. What are you doing there?"

"Waitressing. And I start in two days. Todd Baker, the manager, really needed some help and I guess I came by at the right time."

Todd, that name sparked a memory for Mort, but he couldn't quite picture a face. He took his plate out of the microwave, sat it on the table and began eating. Todd? Why did that name sound so familiar to him? The last time he'd been to 'The Lounge' was about four years ago and Sheriff Newsome's brother, Alvin, was the owner then. He passed away a little over six months ago, and that's when this Todd guy must've taken over.

"You're mighty quiet," Deja said, breaking Mort's train of thought. "What's on your mind?"

"Oh... I was just wondering where I'd heard the name Todd Baker before. It sounds so familiar."

"He looks like he might be around your age, a few years younger maybe. It's possible you hung out in the same places in town," Deja offered.

"Yeah, I guess that could be it." Mort decided he'd take Deja in to work on her first day so he could see for himself who this guy was.

It was 3:30 on Thursday afternoon and Deja was finishing getting dressed. Mort told her he'd take her in to work that night and pick her up. She didn't mind since this was her first day. She was a little nervous and would need someone to talk to on the way there.

Deja ran down the stairs, put her jacket on and waited for Mort to finish eating his sandwich. It was now 3:45 and Mort still wasn't ready. Deja was becoming agitated. "Are you ready?" she yelled.

He came into the living room with a can of soda in his hand. "It only takes like ten minutes to get into town, why are you in such a rush?" he questioned.

"I do not want to be late on my first day. Let's go," she said, pulling on his free arm.

Mort put his coat on, grabbed the car keys and they headed out the door. Ten minutes later they were parked in front of 'The Lounge.' Deja leaned over to give Mort a kiss good-bye, but he told her he'd walk her in.

"Hi Deja," Todd said, smiling as he saw Deja make her way over to the bar where he stood.

"Hi Todd." Mort followed behind Deja. "This is my boyfriend, Mort Rainey," she said, stepping to the side to allow the two men to shake hands.

Suddenly it hit Mort. He did know this guy. He'd had a minor run in with him a few years back.

Todd and Amy had become acquaintances towards the beginning of her and Mort's marriage's downfall. Todd worked at the library and Amy would go there to clear her mind and read. Mort found her activities very suspicious and began to follow her. He thought she may have been cheating on him with Todd, but things turned out to be innocent.

One night while waiting for Amy to leave the library, he saw Todd walking her to her car. They hugged and the sight infuriated Mort. He leapt out of his car, planning to make mince meat out of Todd. When he was about to go in for the blow, he saw the tears in Amy's eyes. She'd been crying. Todd was just trying to be a good friend. He was actually sending her home to try and talk to Mort. Amy was upset with the way things were going with Mort and needed a friend to talk to. That friend happened to be Todd Baker. Mort apologized for roughing Todd up, took Amy home and had a long talk with her. Things were better between the two for a while, but as quickly as things went up, they went back down. Only this time Amy turned to Ted. And it was more than friendly.

Mort reached out to shake Todd's hand. Todd had an uneasy look about him, but he tried to put his best face forward, for Deja's sake. She obviously had no clue the two men knew each other and he didn't want to be the one to tell her of the mishap.

"Nice to meet you," Todd said.

"You too," Mort replied.

Since neither of the men made mention of it, Deja figured they didn't know one another. Turning to Mort, she said, "Well, I probably need to get started. You'll pick me up tonight?"

He nodded his head and she gave him a kiss good-bye. Mort walked out the door and Todd introduced Deja to his sister, Lilly.

It was almost closing time, and Deja had really gotten the swing of things. Working at 'Lucy's' was a big help to her. She really liked the crowd here and they were pretty good tippers. She couldn't wait to tell Mort all about her first day on their way back to the cabin.

After all the customers had gone home for the night, Lilly, Deja, Todd, and two others began to close up. Todd had assured Deja it only took about 30 minutes to clean up everything so she decided to call Mort and tell him to be on his way.

After four rings, the answering machine picked up. Deja left a message for Mort to come get her, hung up and tried calling again. Again, the machine picked up. She hoped he'd get the message before everyone left.

Everyone but Deja and Todd had gone home for the night. It was 15 minutes after they finished cleaning up and Mort was still nowhere to be seen. Deja was fuming. She couldn't believe Mort would do this to her. She felt even worse that Todd had to sit here and wait with her.

"I'm really sorry," she said apologetically.

"No problem. Look, you haven't gotten in touch with him yet, so why don't you let me drive you home?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm really sorry, again."

"Stop apologizing. I don't mind at all." He locked up and they headed out to his car. Just as Todd was about to open up his car door for Deja, Mort pulled up beside them.

Rolling down the passenger window, he said, "Deja, honey...I am so sorry. I fell asleep and didn't hear the phone ring. I'm so, so sorry."

Deja rolled her eyes. She would have a few choice words for Mort as soon as they were alone. She thanked Todd for everything and told him she'd see him tomorrow. Making her way to Mort's car, she became even angrier. She couldn't believe he'd forgotten about her on her first day at work. That would be the last day she'd let Mort drive her to and from work.

Sliding into the passenger side she gave Mort an icy glare. "I can't believe you forgot about me! You ass!"

"Deja, I'm sorry, I just fell asleep. It'll never happen again."

"Damn right it won't happen again! This is your first and last time picking me up from work."

Mort could tell Deja was upset, so he decided to let this one go. They drove home in complete silence.

Deja woke up the next morning in a total panic. She had been so preoccupied over the last few days that she'd forgotten her period was five days late. She knew it would come on eventually, but now she was becoming worried. She didn't have to be at work until 5 pm, so she decided to take a trip to the local pharmacy and pick up a home pregnancy test. She didn't want this bothering her all day.

She'd gone to bed mad at Mort, but today was a new day. She didn't want to be upset with Mort anymore. After taking her shower and dressing she walked out to see Mort at work on his computer.

"Good morning," she said cheerily, leaning over to kiss him.

"Not mad anymore?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nope," she smiled. "I'm actually headed into town for a minute. Do you want anything?"

"No, but what are you getting?"

"I...I just ran out of fashion magazines to keep me occupied, so I'm gonna go pick a few up." She felt like that sounded believable enough.

Within 40 minutes Deja had purchased her items and was back at the house. To make things appear credible she made sure not to forget the magazines. After placing the magazines on the coffee table, she made a beeline for the downstairs bathroom.

She'd never been so nervous in all her life. She wasn't even sure of what she'd do if she was pregnant. Her and Mort had never discussed it and she wasn't sure if she was ready to be a mother quite yet. She wanted desperately to start school in the fall and if she was pregnant she didn't know if that was an option.

The longest three minutes of her life had finally ended and her fate was etched on a plastic strip. She took a deep breath and looked at the test. There was a pink positive sign. She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Sure enough, it was positive. Deja had another life form growing inside her.

Just then, there was a knock on the bathroom door. "Is everything okay in there, Deja?" Mort asked. She couldn't let him know about this just yet. She wasn't even sure how she would handle this herself. She threw the test and it's box into the trash and opened the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" She tried to appear as normal as possible.

"You were just in there for a while. I just wanted to check on you."

"I'm good. Just need to take the trash out." She leaned down and closed up the trash bag before Mort could get a good look inside.

She made her way outside and put the bag into the outside trash can. Mort felt something strange about the situation, but let the feeling pass.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: I don't normally do an author's notes b/c I haven't been getting a lot of replies but I just want to thank Dawnie and A Monty for replying;-) Glad you two are liking it. And Dawnie you've been very faithful and I normally don't update on weekends, but b/c you've been a great reviewer I'll throw up an extra chapter just for you.**

**Chapter 24**

Deja's mind was completely out of it at work that night. She did her job, but it was apparent that her mind was elsewhere. She ran every scenario through her head at least five times. She knew this was something she'd have to think long and hard about before even mentioning it to Mort.

Todd could tell Deja's mind wasn't on her work, so he wasn't going to make her stick around to clean up. He figured she needed to deal with whatever was going on inside her. He was really growing to like her. She seemed like such a genuine person and he loved being around someone with a beautiful spirit like hers.

He hadn't known her long, but he knew she wasn't like most of the women in Tashmore Lake. The only thing he didn't understand was why she was with someone like Mort Rainey. The run in he'd had with Mort wasn't too bad, but Amy had told him so many negative things about Mort that he couldn't understand why any woman would be with him.

"You can take off now," he said, approaching Deja.

"Huh?" she said, caught by surprise.

"You seem like you've got a lot on your mind, so I'll let you leave early tonight. We can manage."

"Jeez, is it that obvious?" she smiled.

"Yeah," Todd said, laughing.

"I'm sorry. But I'll definitely stick around and clean up. I don't mind, plus it's only my second night. I can't give you a reason to fire me quite yet."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Thirty minutes later the bar was completely cleaned and everyone was headed out the door. Saying their goodnights, Todd walked Deja to her car.

She turned to him saying, "Sorry I was in my zone tonight. It won't happen again."

"No problem. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she said, curious as to what Todd had to say.

"Is Mort your only friend here?"

Deja found that quite funny. She figured he knew about the 'stories' going around about Mort and he was probably going to warn her about him.

"Yeah, so far he's my only friend," she answered. "And if you're going to tell me the whole deal about his ex-wife disappearing, I already know about that...and I'm pretty tired of hearing about it."

"Actually, I wasn't going to bring that up. I figured you knew about that already anyway," he paused, "what I was going to say was that if you ever need someone to talk to, about anything, and you can't go to him, just know that I'm here for you. I'm a good listener." He winked at her.

Maybe Todd was different, Deja thought. Maybe he really was one of the good guys. His words brought a smile to her face. "Well, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Goodnight." She got into her car and drove off. The whole way home she thought about what Todd had said. She never thought about making friends in Tashmore Lake. She and Mort were so wrapped up in their own little world that other people never really came into play. It would be nice to have outside friends, she thought. Maybe Todd could be that person.

Two weeks had passed and life was going as normal. Deja had decided to keep the baby and wanted to surprise Mort with the news that night after work. She weighed all of her options and came to the conclusion that a child could only enhance her relationship with Mort. She began to get excited with the thought of a little one running around the house. This wasn't the way she planned to have children, out of wedlock, but she knew that she and Mort would be married someday.

Deja was also loving 'The Lounge.' The regular customers were a riot and her coworkers were great. Especially Todd. She was sad that she'd have to quit the job in the coming months due to the pregnancy. She figured she'd tell him in the coming weeks, after she'd told Mort.

It was a slow Tuesday night and only Todd, Deja and Lilly were working. Todd decided to close up 30 minutes early because there hadn't been a customer for about 40 minutes now. He let Lilly leave first because she had three kids at home that she had to tend to. He figured he and Deja could handle closing up alone.

It only took them about 15 minutes and he was walking Deja to her car.

"See you tomorrow?" he asked as she slid into the driver's side.

"Nope, I'm not scheduled to come back in until Thursday," she said, smiling.

"The boss gave you the day off!" he said, shocked and smiling.

"I know, can you believe it?" They both broke out into laughter.

"See you Thursday," he winked as he walked to his car.

"Goodnight." Deja tried to crank up her car, but it just sputtered. She tried again, nothing. She couldn't believe this was happening. She was so excited to get home and tell Mort the great news and now this was happening.

Hearing her car troubles Todd made his way back to her car. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, letting her forehead fall to the steering wheel. "It won't crank up."

"Hmmm, well I'm not even gonna pretend to be a mechanic, but pop your hood and let me have a look," he offered.

She did as she was told. For the next 15 minutes or so, Todd played around under the hood while instructing Deja on what to do. The conclusion was that Todd was no mechanic. He didn't have the slightest clue as to what was wrong.

"Well...I guess I'll give you a lift home," he said, closing the hood of the car and wiping his greasy hands on his jeans.

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I'll just call Mort to pick me up."

"Nonsense. By the time he gets here you could've already been home and in the bed. Come on," he said, waving her over to his car.

She grabbed her belongings and made her way into Todd's car. She was glad she didn't have to call Mort. The sooner she got home, the better. Her good news was almost bursting out of her.

The conversation between her and Todd was pleasant enough, but she was distracted by what the night had in store for her.

Finally, he pulled in front of the cabin. It looked completely dark inside, but Deja knew better. Since she'd started this job, not one night had gone by that Mort didn't wait up for her. He was so protective of her. Deja thought it was such an endearing quality.

Todd put the car into park and undid his seat belt. "Going somewhere?" Deja asked.

He let out a nervous laugh. "Did you want me to walk you in?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"No, I don't mind. The house looks pretty dark. Any psycho could grab you from the woods before you make it inside."

Deja found it sweet of Todd to walk her to the door. She didn't find the harm in it, so she figured why not? They both got out and walked onto the porch.

Turning to Todd, she said, "Thanks again for the ride. I'll get the car towed sometime tomorrow."

"No problem. It was my pleasure." He stared at her intensely with his piercing blue eyes. "Deja?"

"Yes," she answered innocently.

With no warning, Todd leaned in for the kiss. Deja was stunned. She was not expecting this. Even though she didn't feel this way about Todd, she didn't try to break the kiss. It was almost as if she was under his spell. He ran his hand through her hair and his tongue found it's way inside her mouth. Every fiber in her being was enjoying what he was doing to her, but her mind was telling her to stop. Just as she was about to break the kiss and tell Todd she didn't feel the same way about him, the door opened.

There, staring at both of them with those dark, brown eyes was Mort. Their kiss had come to a sudden halt and Deja turned her head, embarrassed by what she'd just given herself into.

Before she could even begin to apologize and explain to Mort what happened she felt a blow to her face. The force was so hard it knocked her to the ground. Her immediate instinct was to grab her face and make the pain subside. She tried to block out her surroundings, but she could here the scuffle ensuing. Then she heard a horrific scream from inside the house. She stumbled onto her feet and made her way in, still holding her face from the hurt.

Her vision was a bit blurred because of the tears that had welled up in her eyes, but she could make out Mort standing over Todd, who was lying on the floor near the sofa. Mort had something in his hands, but she couldn't make out what it was. Just then he made his way towards her. She stumbled backwards and could feel her balance going.

She tried to steady herself on something, but there was nothing around. Mort was advancing and Deja was scared of what he might do to her. Before she even knew it, he was standing in front of her. His hands found their way to her shoulders and he pushed her backwards. The fall seemed to happen in slow motion and the impact of her upper body hitting the coffee table echoed throughout the entire house.

Deja could barely bring herself to open her eyes. Her head hung down and she could feel restraints on her wrists. Her hands were tied behind her and she was seated in a chair. She felt groggy and pain shot through her entire body.

She forced herself to lift her head and look at her surroundings. Her eyes were heavy, but she managed to fully open them. She saw no sign of Mort. Todd, however was seated about ten feet away from her in the same position. He seemed more out of it than she did.

Deja surveyed the room and tried to make out what happened. The room was in disarray. Pillows were everywhere and she could make out a trail of blood on the floor. She looked over her body to make sure the blood wasn't coming from her.

Just then, she felt a tug on her hair, bending her head backwards. Mort had a firm grip on her ponytail and she was looking up directly at him.

"Mort," she cried, weakly. He didn't answer. "Mort, please." Her voice was hoarse and it hurt to speak. He let go of hair and she began to cough.

He sat down on the couch and faced her. Tears welled up in her eyes and began to flow down her cheeks. She wanted nothing more than to explain to him what happened. But she had to word things just right. She didn't want to blame this all on Todd or she was sure Mort would do something to him.

"Mort, please listen to me," she begged. "It was just a misunderstanding. Todd just got the wrong impression. That's all. Please believe me when I say that it was harmless."

"Both you and your lil' friend are gonna pay for this," Mort said in his Shooter voice.

Deja recognized the voice. Mort had made her believe it was all in her head the last time they had an 'altercation' but Deja now realized that it wasn't her, it was him. This Shooter person was someone living inside of Mort. It was another personality inside of him. Deja didn't know how she would coax Mort out, but she had to get rid of Shooter. There was no telling what he would do.

Mort inched his way over to Deja and crouched down beside her. He pulled a knife out of his back pocket and slid the dull side down her body, starting at her neck and working his way down.

"And to think, Mort really loved you," he told her. "I believe he would've even married you."

The knife had made it's way to the side of her stomach, when it stopped. She could feel it pinching her. Worry took over her mind and she blurted out, "Mort, please don't...I'm pregnant!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Mort was completely taken aback by what Deja had just said. "I'm pregnant!" rang through his ears over and over. He dropped his knife and sat back on the couch. He looked at Deja to see if he could see any trace of deceit in her face. He couldn't even see a hint of it. Her eyes were like windows inside of her being and they expressed her true thoughts.

Suddenly, Mort felt a change come over him. He became very tired and wanted nothing more than to lie down and take a nap. He got up and headed for the stairs. Deja called out after him, but he ignored her. He made his way into the bedroom and slept for the next two hours.

Deja tried to untie herself, but it was no use. She didn't know why Mort had gone upstairs, but she was glad her news had some sort of affect on him. She was glad he believed her. She hoped that when he returned to her he would be the person she had grown to love. She was willing to be with him if he agreed to get some type of psychiatric help. She didn't want her child to grow up fatherless.

She glanced over at Todd who was still out of it. She didn't know what Mort, or rather Shooter, had done to him, but it must've been pretty brutal. He had blood stained all over his clothes. He had stirred a few times, but never fully awoke.

Deja's positioning was too uncomfortable for her to attempt to go back to sleep. She hoped Mort, and not Shooter, would come back down the stairs and untie her. As if reading her mind, Mort made his way down to her.

She looked up, trying to force a smile upon her face. She wanted him to trust that she wouldn't do anything crazy like run away. If he freed her, she was sure they could work something out.

Mort sat down on the couch and just stared at Deja. She wanted to know what he was thinking, but decided to wait on him to make the first move.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"As good as I can be...given the situation," she put her head down and stared at the floor.

"Deja, I'm so sorry about all of this. There's a lot going on inside of me, that I haven't been honest with you about."

She looked him in the eyes as he continued, "I lied to you about who John Shooter was. He's not a real person," he paused, as tears began to roll down his face, "He's a part of me."

"You don't have to explain it to me right now. I've met plenty of people with the same," she paused, trying to find the right word, "affliction. What we need to figure out is how to correct this situation."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to untie me and Todd, and let him go."

Mort sat and thought about what Deja had just said. After a few moment, he said, "I can't Deja."

"What do you mean you can't?" Deja's heart rate was beginning to increase.

"I might be able to let you go, but I...I can't let him go," he said, pointing at Todd who was still passed out.

"Why not?" Tears were beginning to stream down her face.

"Shooter got me into this mess. Todd wouldn't understand that. He'd be ready to go to the police with this, and I can't have that."

Deja wanted to reason with him. "Mort, if you keep him here against his will it'll be even worse for you. You'll be facing assault and kidnapping charges!"

"I'm fully aware of that, Deja!" his tone increasing in volume.

"Maybe we can reason with him. He's a sensible person, I'm sure he'll understand that you were caught off guard at the sight of the two of us."

"I'm sorry, I just can't." Mort got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. Deja didn't know what she could say to try and rectify the situation. All she knew is she had to get Todd out of there before Shooter took over again.

Walking back into the living room, Mort had two glasses of water. He placed his half empty glass on the table and lifted the other to Deja's lips. She instinctively took three long sips before Mort set it down next to his glass.

"How long have you known?" he asked her.

"About what?" Oblivious to his question.

"About the pregnancy?"

"Oh...for about...a little over two weeks, I guess."

"Do you know how far along you are?"

"Not really. I'd say maybe a month to two. I was planning on making an appointment with an OBGYN next week," she answered softly.

"When were you planning on telling me?"

"Tonight, actually. I was so excited to get home to you so I could share this wonderful news with you," her voice was quivering. "I was hoping you'd be as happy as me."

"Deja, I am. I want nothing more than to be a father. I just wish what happened with you and Todd would've never gone down."

"Mort, I know. And I'm so sorry I let it happen. But you have to believe that there's no one else for me. I want to make this work with you."

Both of them were overcome with emotion. Mort got up from the couch, took her face in his hands and passionately kissed her. She could taste the saltiness of their tears in her mouth and it only increased their intensity. She wanted him so bad at that moment, but realized she was still bound to the chair.

Mort began to undo the ropes on her wrists and before she knew it she was free. Her hands found their way to his neck and she began to run her fingers through the back of his hair. Mort kneeled down and untied the ropes on her feet. She was completely free. He picked her up and laid her down on the couch.

Forgetting that Todd was even in the same room with them, Mort ripped her shirt from her body to reveal her black lacy bra. He began to kiss the tender flesh on around her bra as she ran her hands under the back of his shirt. She had to have him right then and there. They were like to primitive animals, only concerned with physical needs.

Mort undid her jeans and practically tore off her panties. He threw his shirt to the floor and Deja worked on unbuttoning his pants. Before either of them knew it, they were naked and Mort was inside of her. Her legs had him in a tight grip. She needed him at this moment like she needed air. She dug her nails into his skin as he plunged himself into her deeper and deeper. This wonderful feeling was unbearable. Deja had never wanted anyone this much. She didn't want it to end. After several minutes of intense pleasure, he erupted inside of her. They were both spent and breathing heavily. Mort collapsed on top of her.

After reveling in their throes of passion, Mort removed himself from on top of Deja and carried her up the stairs. He could tell she was worn out. The events of the day, coupled with the pregnancy had taken it's toll on her. He draped her in Amy's robe and laid her on the bed. She was in need of a lot of sleep. Mort got dressed and went downstairs to figure out what needed to be done about Todd.

Mort had pondered over what to do for the last few hours. What Deja had said to him really got him thinking. He didn't need kidnapping charges to be added to his list. He decided he would untie Todd, lie him down on the couch and talk things out with him whenever he woke up. Todd was not a small man, it took Mort almost ten minutes to complete the task.

He hoped Todd would wake up soon so they could discuss this. He'd given him a severe blow to the head with a paddle he had in the house, but didn't think it would knock him out for this long.

Mort began to think about his relationship with Shooter. The lines were starting to blur more and more between the two men. Sometimes Shooter would arrive and Mort would have absolutely no recollection of what Shooter had been up to and other times, like now, he remembered everything exactly as it happened. But there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't know which was worse, not knowing, or knowing and not being able to stop it.

Mort heard a noise behind him and turned to see Todd stirring. His eyes began to flutter and he was checking out his surroundings. Mort took a deep breath, knowing that the next few hours would be difficult to get through.

"Take it easy, buddy," Mort said to Todd.

"Stay the fu.ck away from me!" Todd yelled.

"Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. Just calm down so we can talk." Mort walked into the kitchen and brought Todd a glass of water. "Drink this."

"Yeah right! It's probably poisoned."

"If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it by now. I just want to talk with you about what happened."

Todd reached for the glass and within seconds the glass was empty. "Give me the phone. I'm calling the police," he told Mort.

"Whoa there. The police do not have to be involved. We can work this out man to man." Mort wanted to rationalize with Todd, but he was having no part in it.

Todd stumbled to his feet, heading towards the phone. Before he could get there, Mort ripped the plug from the wall. He was becoming agitated. "I told you, no police! Now sit down!"

Todd went back to the couch and looked for any sort of weapon he could use against Mort. He decided he would do what Mort said all the while regaining strength and then go after him when the time was right. Mort went on about how the kiss between him and Deja startled him and he just lost control. Todd pretended to listen to Mort, and occasionally nodded in agreement.

Todd realized that he was a bit larger than Mort and if he lunged forward using all of his weight he could try to pin him to the ground and strangle him. Todd had to get out of there some way. He didn't want to kill Mort, but he needed to do whatever was necessary to get out of there alive.

He had completely zoned Mort out and was thinking of what his next move should be. Mort had heard something from upstairs and turned his head for just a second. Todd made his move. Before Mort could grasp what was happening, Todd had him pinned from to the floor. He was on top of Mort and had his hand firmly placed around Mort's neck. Mort was gasping for air and fighting to get Todd off of him.

Hearing the raucous from the living room, Deja ran out of the bedroom. She saw Todd on top of Mort choking the life out of him. She yelled for him to stop, but Todd paid her no attention. Mort was losing consciousness, but Todd still held him down firmly. Deja needed to take action, fast. She jumped on top of Todd and tried freeing his hands from around Mort. It was no use, Todd was too strong for her.

Deja was persistent. She wasn't about to let Todd take Mort away from her without a fight. She bit down on Todd's neck trying to get him to take his hands off of Mort, if only for a second. Luckily, her tactic worked. Todd howled as she sank her teeth deep into his flesh. He grabbed his neck with his hand. Then he turned to Deja and slapped her hard enough to send her hurdling across the room. She let out a cry as she landed against the fireplace.

Todd had gone right back to taking the life out of Mort. Mort was able to catch some of his breath, but he was in losing struggle. Deja searched around the room for something to injure Todd with. She didn't want to hurt him, only to make him stop attacking Mort. Then she remembered the knife. Mort's knife. It had been in his back pocket. Their clothes were still lying on the floor from their earlier 'session.' She reached for his jeans and found what she was looking for. She wasn't sure if she'd actually be able to use the knife, but maybe the sight of her with it would scare Todd enough to leave Mort alone.

Deja walked up to Todd and cleared her throat. "Todd, let him go!" she yelled, raising the knife above her.

"Deja, put the knife down and call the cops! This guy was going to kill us. You're in just as much danger as me!"

"We want to talk this out, Todd! Let him go before I have to hurt you!"

"Don't do anything you might regret, Deja!" he yelled.

Deja saw Mort's breathing become shallow. His eyes were rolling to the back of his head. She had to make her move soon or Mort would be dead. With no hesitation, she took the knife and thrust it into Todd's shoulder blade. She had to move fast because he was sure to come after her the moment he could regain his composure.

She pulled the knife from his arm and slashed it against his back, ripping his shirt and the flesh underneath. He was now on his feet and began chasing after her. She noticed that Mort was still breathing and she let out a sigh of relief. Unfortunately in that small moment of letting down her guard, Todd had caught up with her. He backed her into the wall and grabbed her neck with one hand. The blood from his shoulder had soaked his shirt and he was wincing with pain.

Deja was gasping for breath, when she remembered she still had the knife in her hand. She sank it deep into the side of Todd's stomach. He wasn't prepared for the impact and his mouth fell open. He looked down to see the knife sticking out of his body. He staggered backward and finally fell to the ground. Deja wanted to take the knife from his body, but Mort was her main concern at the moment.

She ran to Mort's side to see if he was okay. He was breathing, but his eyes were still heavy. She began talking to him to keep him awake. Mort was barely responding, so Deja lifted his upper body and placed it against hers. She thought if he was elevated he may respond better.

"Mort? Mort?" she whispered into his ear.

"Hmmmmm," he replied.

"Can you talk?"

"Barely," he managed to get out.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"Nothing. Where's...Todd?"

"He's on the other side of the room. I...I...think I killed him." Her voice began to shake at the thought of what she'd done to Todd.

"Did he hurt you?" Mort asked.

"Not much. I'm okay."

Mort's words were becoming stronger. He looked up at her and saw the tears forming in her eyes. "Do not blame yourself for hurting him. If he'd just listened to me none of this would've happened."

Deja wiped her tears away. She knew that Mort was right, but she still had to live with hurting Todd. She came to the conclusion that it was justified because he tried to attack her. She was just protecting herself and her baby.

Interrupting her thoughts, Mort asked to be lifted up. She helped him to his feet and the couple made their way over to where Todd was lying. Deja crouched down beside him as Mort pulled the knife out. She checked for a pulse, but couldn't feel one.

"Listen for a heartbeat," Mort instructed.

Placing her ear on Todd's chest, she listened intently. To Deja's horror, Todd's heart had stopped beating. She had killed him.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

"Oh my God," she repeated over and over.

"Is he dead?" Mort asked her.

Deja nodded. She was about to be in hysterics. Her breathing intensified and she felt as if she was having a panic attack.

"Breathe," Mort instructed her. He began rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. The last thing they needed was for her to hyperventilate.

About a minute had passed and Deja was finally able to catch her breath and relax. She needed to think clearly during this time of stress. She had to come to grips with the fact that she killed someone. She was no longer an innocent bystander.

Mort grabbed her hand and led her to the couch. They sat down and Mort began to plan out what their next move should be.

"We need to gather everything here that belongs to him and put them in his car. Then we need to get his body, put it in the car and drive it over the cliff."

"What!" Deja interrupted. "We can't just get rid of him like that! He's a person, Mort."

"Do you want to go to prison?" he asked earnestly.

"If we explain to the police..."

"I'll be going to jail, Deja. They already think I've killed before. This will just seal the deal for them!"

A realization crossed Deja's face. "Did...did you kill the others?" she asked softly.

"Yes...Shooter did."

Deja didn't know what to think. She was living with a murderer. A murderer that she loved. She couldn't really hold him accountable because it wasn't him that was doing all these terrible things. She had to find a way to get rid of Shooter for good.

"So what do we do?" She decided going along with Mort's plan was probably the smartest thing to do.

Over the next few hours, Deja and Mort planned out what they would do next. They had cleaned up the apartment to put it back in presentable condition and moved Todd's body into his car. Mort was pretty certain that if they sent his car over the edge of the cliff, into the water, that no one would find it.

It took some doing, but they finally managed to sink the car and erase any trace of Todd ever being there. Mort told her to return to work the next day to have her car towed back home. She was to act as though everything was normal. She would tell her coworkers that Todd took her home the night before and that was the last she'd seen of him. She ran the scenario in her head at least a million times and each time it sounded more and more believable. She just hoped she'd be able to convince everyone else.

Deja kept replaying the events of the last 24 hours in her mind. She hated the way things had turned out. If she would've never let Todd kiss her, none of this would've happened. She knew the majority of what happened was due to her weakness. She should've told Todd from the minute he leaned in to kiss her that she wasn't a willing participant. But it was too late for that now. Todd's body was at the bottom of a very large waterway. He was literally swimming with the fishes.

Mort lay in the bed next to her. He was sound asleep. It was almost as if what had happened today were a normal occurance for him. He talked to her for a little while before coming over with sleepiness. They'd been in bed for a little over four hours and Deja wasn't any closer to falling asleep. She decided to get up and go watch some television, hoping that would tire her out.

She made her way into the living room and sat down on the couch. After channel surfing and not coming up with anything, she turned the television off and turned the CD player on. Her Maroon 5 CD was already in rotation so she pressed 'Repeat' and let the smooth sounds fill the room. She turned down the volume and laid back down on the couch.

She began thinking of what would happen if her and Mort got caught. They would be sent to prison and their child would grow up never knowing them. Deja swore she would convince the police that her and Mort had nothing to do with Todd's disappearance.

Stroking her belly, she began to talk to her unborn child. "Mommy and daddy did something incredibly stupid, but it was only to protect you. If I could take it all back I would. But I promise you that I will do whatever I have to to make sure the three of us remain as a family. If we have to move to an entirely different country, I swear that you will be safe," she began to silently weep, "Daddy loves you just as much as I do and he wants to be with us forever."

"Yes, I do," Mort's voice said, behind her.

She hadn't even heard him come down, but she was glad he did. She needed to feel his closeness. He made his way onto the couch and she rested her legs on his lap.

"Talking to the baby, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah. It always seemed kind of silly to me, but I just felt I owed him, or her, an explanation."

Mort lifted her shirt and began to rub her stomach. Her belly hadn't grown yet, but Mort was excited by it just the same.

"Wow," he said, shaking his head.

"What?" Deja asked.

"I just can't believe I might actually be a father," he answered in amazement.

"What do you mean 'might be'?"

Mort hesitated. "Well, Amy had gotten pregnant once before. We were so elated, we rushed right out and started buying baby items," a smile spread across his face, "I'd put together this amazing crib and we began to paint one of the spare bedrooms. Well, one night about five months into the pregnancy she started to have contractions. We both knew something was seriously wrong. I rushed her to the emergency room and after hours upon hours of just waiting, the doctors came to me and said the baby died. It was a boy," tears began to form in his eyes, "They told me a lot of medical mumbo jumbo that I still don't understand, but the bottom line was that our child was gone. Amy became severly depressed for about eight weeks. I wanted to try again, but she wasn't up to it. I kind of sank deeper and deeper into my own world and she started to cheat on me. It was the beginning of the end of our marriage."

Deja was stunned. She didn't know Mort was almost a father before. He had to be terrified of the same thing happening to her. She knew she would have to take extra special precausions to make sure her baby was as healthy as possible. She didn't want any added outside factors like stress, second hand smoke, etc to cause something to go wrong with the pregnancy.

"Mort, I...I don't know...what to say," she mumbled.

"You don't have to say anything. Just promise me you'll take additional care of yourself to make sure this baby goes full term."

"I will. I'll do everything in my power to bring a healthy child into your life." She sat up and kissed him deeply. Wiping his tears away, she whispered into his ear, "I'm going to give you the child you've always dreamed about."

Deja pulled up to 'The Lounge' around 2:10. Mort decided to stay at the cabin so things wouldn't look to suspiscious. She told the tow truck company to meet her there at 2 pm, but there was no sign of him. She hoped he hadn't come and gone.

Butterflies filled her stomach and she felt like throwing up. She made her way inside to see if the tow truck driver had stopped by. Lilly, along with one other waitress was there.

"Hi," Deja said to Lilly, trying to sound normal.

"Hey," Lilly answered. "Have you seen or talked to Todd?"

"Not since he dropped me off last night," she said, taking a seat on the bar stool.

"He took you home last night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, he was supposed to help me open up today and he's not here. I've called his house and cell phone and he's not picking up on either one." Deja could here the strain in Lilly's voice. She felt bad having to lie to her.

"Well, my car wouldn't start after you all left last night, so Todd offered to take me home and that was that. Have you called the police?" Deja immediately regretted asking that, but it was too late now. She was nervous and whenever she was nervous, stupid things would fly out of her mouth. She needed to get a handle on that.

"The police? Oh honey, you obviously don't know Todd well enough yet. He's probably taking a personal day. This isn't the first time he's done something like this. He'll just take the day off and not tell anyone. Immaturity if you ask me."

Lilly went right back stocking the bar. She didn't seem too concerned with Todd's whereabouts, so Deja decided not to press the matter. She figured she needed to change the subject. "Has a tow truck guy been by here?" she asked.

"Not to my knowledge. Maybe you should call him again."

"I'll do that." Deja pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called the towing company. They said that Bob, the driver was on his way and would have her car delivered to their service station. As soon as she hung up, she heard the truck outside. She told Lilly good-bye and made her way outside. After riding with the Bob to the service station it was determined that a part would have to be ordered and it would be the next day before it could be fixed.

Bob offered Deja a ride home, but she was a little uneasy about that. She phoned Mort and within 20 minutes they were on their way out of the shop.

"So, how did it go at 'The Lounge'?" he asked, quietly.

"Good, I think. Lilly is under the impression that he's just taking a personal day. I just went along with her."

"Good, good," Mort said, placing his arm around Deja's waist. "What do you say we go in town for some ice cream and a movie. They've got this great old theater down town that I know you'd love. I feel like I've had you cooped up in the cabin since you got here. You need to see what Tashmore Lake has to offer."

"Are you sure, Mort?" she asked.

"Yes." He grabbed her hand and they made their way into his car.

The theater was playing the remade version of _Imitation of Life_ starring Lana Turner. It was one of Deja's favorite movies growing up. Mort had never seen it so she was excited to share this experience with him.

By the end of the film, they were both in tears. It was so moving that neither of them could hold back. Mort, trying to be a tough guy, wiped his tears away as soon as they formed, but Deja could tell the movie had touched him. She couldn't count how many times she'd seen it, but her reaction was always the same.

Making their way to the ice cream store next door, Deja asked, "Did you like the movie?"

"Very moving. I can't believe I've never seen it before."

"Well, I love watching classic movies, so hang around me long enough you'll see all the good ones at least once," she smiled.

In the ice cream store, Deja ordered mint chocolate chip and Mort had cookies and cream. They had it put in cones and decided to take a stroll down the street. They learned to ignore the stares of the town's people. Anytime the two of them showed up together, eyes were always on them. It bothered Deja at first, but then she decided that as long as they lived in Tashmore Lake that they would get these glances. She'd have to learn to live with it.

Deja began to laugh at Mort and he was clueless as to why. He had a huge dallop of ice cream on the side of his lip. She wanted to tell him, but the sight of it threw her into fits of laughter. That was just what she needed. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to ever laugh again after what happened with Todd. Now she knew that she would.

She leaned over to Mort and licked the ice cream off. "What was that for?" he asked seductively.

"You had a little...ice cream on your face," she began laughing again.

"And I thought you were just up for a little p.d.a.," he smiled back.

"Oh, you'd love to give the people here a show, wouldn't you?"

"Well, we'd definitely be the talk of the town." He wrapped his arm around her waist, touching the small of her back and pulled her body close to his. Then, without hesitation he kissed her. It wasn't a screen kiss either. It was an enticing, real kiss. Although Deja was enjoying the kiss, she was fully aware of her surroundings. She opened her eyes to see several people stopping to stare at her and Mort.

Breaking their kiss, she said, "I think we should take this back to the house. People are staring."

"So let them stare," he said, moving to her neck and placing warm kisses all over it. The tingle of his lips against her soft skin made her giggle.

"Mort, seriously. There's like kids here, I don't want to give them some sort of porn show." It was hard for her to make him stop because she was fully enjoying what he was doing to her. Mort was the type of man that could make the most innocent of women lose all their inhibitions.

"All right grandma," he laughed, "let's go home." He took her by the hand and led her to the car. He knew that the sight of him and Deja being so free with each other was infuriating some of the people there, but he didn't care. As long as the two of them were happy was all that mattered.

The next morning, Deja was in the kitchen making breakfast for her and Mort when she heard a knock at the door. Making sure Amy's robe, which was now basically hers, was tied securely she opened the door.

In front of her were two young police officers. Male and female. Her heart felt like it had fallen to her feet. She knew why they were there, and she hoped that she could pull off the lie she knew she'd have to tell.

"Deja Brown? How are you doing today ma'am?" the young, male officer asked.

"I'm good. What can I help you with?" she asked, wiping her hands on her dish towel.

"Do you mind if we come in?" the woman officer asked.

"No, not at all." They followed Deja into the kitchen and she offered them a seat.

"We won't be in your hair long," the woman began, "but we're investigating the disappearance of a Todd Baker. Your boss I believe."

Deja decided not to say anything until they started asking questions. The woman continued, "Lilly Baker, his sister, said that he was last seen by you, after he dropped you off here. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, my car wouldn't crank up, so he offered me a ride home."

"Did he make mention of going out of town or anything?" the man asked.

"No, nothing at all. I just told him I'd be by the bar the next day to have my car towed. He made it seem like he'd be there," she said casually.

"You talked to Lilly that day right?"

"Yeah. She asked me had I spoken with Todd."

"Lilly also told us you instructed her to call the police. Any reason for that?" he asked her suspiciously.

Letting out a nervous laugh she said, "No. She just seemed a little worried and so I just mentioned that maybe she should call the cops and have them check it out. She said he took personal days a lot, so I let it go."

"Well, Lilly ended up going by his house after they closed up that night and neither Todd nor his car were there."

"She said he's never gone that long with any type of contact or notice," the woman added. "You're sure you don't recall him saying anything about taking a trip or something of that nature?"

"Nope, not a thing."

The two officers looked at one another and got up from their chairs. "Well, if you happen to think of anything, give us a call," she said, handing Deja a business card with a number written on the back.

"Definitely. Good luck," Deja said, and then closed the door behind them. She let out a long sigh of relief. She couldn't believe she managed to get through that. She was a better actress than she had led herself to believe.

Making their way to the car the female policeman, Officer Johnson turned to her partner, Officer Reid and gave him a funny look. "What's that look for Johnson?" he asked.

"Something just didn't sit right with me about her."

"Must be woman's intuition because she sounded pretty clean to me."

"I can't figure out what I'm trying to pick up on, but something just doesn't fit well to me," Officer Johnson said.

"I think you're just reading too much into this," Officer Reid said brushing off her feelings.

As they drove out of view of Mort's house, Officer Johnson couldn't let go of the nagging feeling she had. Deja seemed like a nice enough woman, but something about her was very suspicious. Officer Johnson decided that she'd have to do some further investigating.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

"Who was that?" Mort asked, walking into the kitchen.

"The police," Deja responded sullenly.

"What'd they want?"

Deja glared at Mort, letting him know what they police had come there for. "Stupid question, sorry," he said. "Did you hold it together okay?"

"Yeah, I managed. Just hope they don't come back," she said, a worried look upon her face.

"Well, just make sure you're pulled together at work tonight."

"Yes, dad," she said, laughing.

"Haha, very funny. So you made me breakfast?" A grin spread across his still sleep-filled face.

"Us...I made us breakfast," she corrected.

They both sat down and began to enjoy the butter pecan pancakes, bacon, and eggs Deja had prepared. "I'm gonna have to let you make breakfast more often," Mort joked. Deja was just glad they seemed to be getting on as though everything were normal.

Deja had gone to work for the next three weeks and always had her best face on. The police had visited her on at least two more occasions and her story was always the same. She got the feeling that Officer Johnson was trying to trip her up, but Deja held her own. There was a statewide search for Todd now, but no one had come any closer to finding his body.

Lilly didn't want to believe anything bad had happened to him, but she was beginning to lose faith. She began staying after work and drinking herself into a stupor. On more than one occasion, Deja had driven her home and spent the night because she didn't want Lilly drunk and alone with her kids. Deja felt responsible for all of this anyway, so it was the least she could do.

Lilly had three kids. Joshua, 14; Elijah, 11; and Cassidy, 6. They're dad was a deadbeat and hadn't come to see them in about 3 years. Todd and Lilly were really all they had. Deja was determined to get Lilly off the booze. Her being drunk was not going to bring Todd back. Deja almost hoped the police would find Todd in the river so Lilly could begin the healing process.

The one positive thing to come out of the entire situation was Deja getting to know Lilly's kids. About to be a mother herself, she felt the connection. She made sure on those nights when Lilly wasn't stable, to see that the kids were in bed and had their things ready for school the next morning.

Joshua had even confided in Deja that he was worried about his mother and his uncle. Deja told him that until further notice she was putting him in charge of his siblings. He was now the man of the house and would need to help his mother out the best he could.

Deja would make sure all the kids, and Lilly, were fast asleep before she would leave to head home. Some nights that would turn out to be 5 am. Mort began to miss having her home every night, but he knew this was something she had to do for herself.

It was a rainy Friday afternoon, and Deja was freezing cold. She was wearing a blue paper robe and was lying down on the doctor's bench. Her feet were dangling over the edge as she waited for the doctor to enter the room. Mort sat in a small chair to the right of her. He looked just as nervous as her.

This was their second trip to see Dr. Phillips, but this time it was a little different. Their initial visit was just routine. Today, they would be getting an ultrasound that could possibly tell them the baby's sex and how far along she was.

Deja was about to turn and say something to Mort, when Dr. Phillips entered the room. He was a small, bald, pale man, but very kind and comforting. Deja liked him immediately on their first visit. He greeted them both and instructed Deja to open her gown so he could spread on the gel for the ultrasound. She let out a high pitched shriek as he began to massage the gel into her skin. He picked up the medical device and began to swirl it on the gel.

Mort stood up next to Deja so he could get a better look at the monitor. Dr. Phillips began explaining what was on the screen, but neither Mort nor Deja had a clue as to what they were supposed to be seeing.

Suddenly, the doctor ceased his talking and began to stare intently at the screen. The way he was focusing was making Deja grow with worry. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Hold on...just a minute," he murmured. "I want to be sure of what I'm seeing..."

Deja looked at Mort, his face full of concern. She wanted nothing more than a healthy baby for her and Mort. She hoped the doctor wasn't about to give them some bad news.

A smile crossed Dr. Phillips' face as he announced that she was having twins. Deja's eyes nearly popped out of her head and Mort had to take his seat to keep from passing out. Not only was she healthy, but she was having twins. Deja couldn't believe it. She was going to bring not one, but two children into this world for Mort.

"Are...are you...are you sure doctor?" Mort managed to ask.

"Yes," a wide smile on his face, "you and Deja will be having a set of twins!"

"Wow," was all he could manage to say.

"I know this must be a lot for you to take in right now. I'll step out of the room for a moment to let you two discuss this in private."

"Thank you," Deja said as he shut the door behind him.

"Mort, this is wonderful!" Deja was anxious bout being a first time mother, and to twins no less, but she couldn't think of more wonderful news.

Mort sat in the chair, staring blankly at the wall. "Mort, do you hear me?" she said, raising her voice. She snapped him out of his thoughts and he got up from his chair and planted a huge kiss on her lips. "Good, I was worried about you for a minute there," she smiled back.

"I can't believe I'm going to have two kids," he said, running his hands through his hair.

"Yes, you are, dad."

Dr. Phillips entered the room again, and began to point out the different body parts of the babies. He told Deja she was about two and a half months pregnant, which was longer than her and Mort had thought. He was also able to tell them the sex of the babies if they wanted to know. Mort and Deja looked at each other and decided to go ahead and find out. Finding out they were having twins was enough of a surprise they figured.

Dr. Phillips began to study the screen intently. "Well, I have another surprise for you," he started, "you're having a boy...and a girl."

Deja and Mort began to laugh. She couldn't believe they were both getting what they wanted. She'd always dreamt of having a little girl to dress up and play barbies with. And Mort wanted a son to chase around the house and play sports with, even though he wasn't too big on sports himself.

"How happy is your mom gonna be, huh?" Mort asked her later that evening.

"Oh, she'll be thrilled," Deja said happily. "I just hope she's not mad that I haven't told her yet."

"I'm sure she'll understand that you've been too busy making love to me everynight," he said, a confident smirk on his face.

Deja rolled her eyes at him and walked into the living room. She made a quick call to her mother, telling her the news and rejoined Mort in the kitchen.

"Well, what's the verdict?" he asked.

"She told me to tell you congratulations and give you this." She then leaned down and gave Mort a seductive kiss.

Raising his eyebrows, he said, "Maybe I got together with the wrong family member."

Deja playfully slapped him and said, "She told me to give you a kiss on the cheek, but I prefer kisses on the lips." She winked at him.

"So what are we getting into tonight?" Mort asked.

"I don't know about you, Mr. Rainey, but I'm tired and need my rest," she patted her stomach.

"It's only 8 pm."

"I know, but mommy needs all the rest she can get."

"I guess, I'll work on my novel then," Mort said, disappointed.

Standing in front the bedroom door, Mort kissed Deja goodnight. She closed the door behind her and Mort sat down at his computer.

His story was coming together nicely and he had the perfect ending all picked out. He felt like this added boost of energy was coming from Deja's presence in the house. His mind began to drift of thoughts of the family that he would have in the coming months.

_Deja sat on the porch reading one of Mort's newest novels. She loved rereading everything her wrote. Just then, a small boy, about five years old ran onto the porch startling her. "Anthony, what are you doing all wet?" Deja asked._

"_It wasn't my fault mom! Madison pushed me into the water," he answered shyly._

"_Where is your father?" Deja said, taking the little boy's hand and walking towards the lake._

_She saw Mort holding the little girl in his arms. She was crying and Mort was consoling her. _

"_What happened?" Deja asked. _

"_Nothing serious," he began, "Madison was playing by the shore and Anthony and I were playing toss with the ball," he pointed to the ball lying on the ground. "Maddy wanted to take Anthony's place and he wouldn't let her. She started chasing him and Maddy pushed him into the water."_

_Deja shook her head, laughing at the sight of her wet child. "All right you two, let's head in, it's bath time anyway."_

_The four of them made their way inside and Deja ran their bath water and poured in the bubble bath. After putting both of the kids in the tub and giving them some toys to play with she sat on the toilet lid and watched them play. _

_After a good 45 minutes passed, the kids were clean, dressed in their pajamas and tucked away in the bedroom. Mort had done some remodeling to the house and turned the extra room downstairs into the kids room. After saying their goodnights, Deja and Mort walked into the living room and sat on the couch. _

_Deja laid her head against Mort's shoulder and wrapped her arm around his waist. Mort could never recall feeling this complete. His family made him truly happy. He was basking in this moment._

Out of nowhere a loud knock on the front door interrupted his daydream. He hesitated to answer it, but didn't want the knocking to wake Deja. He opened the door and shock overcame his face by what he saw.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Standing on his porch at this time of night was Dave Newsome. He was no longer dressed in his uniform, but in regular civilian attire. Mort knew this visit wasn't going to be friendly. He needed to Dave out of there as soon as possible.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Mort said, "What can I help you with Dave?"

"Mind if we talk for a moment, Mort?"

"Not at all." Mort made his way onto the porch and slightly shut the door behind him.

"People have been seeing you and your...girlfriend in town lately. I thought you and I discussed you going to New London from now on?"

"It's been a while now...since they disappeared, I don't think I should have to hide just because a few ignorant people still believe I killed them," Mort said blatantly.

"Well, things were working just fine that way, before," Dave said, becoming slightly agitated.

"I've been tip-toeing my away around Tashmore Lake ever since the day you came here and told me not to come into town anymore. I've done exactly what you wanted, but things have changed. The woman in my life shouldn't have to drive all the way to New London just to appease you." Mort was ready to go back inside, but he needed to handle this matter and get Sheriff Newsome off his back.

"It's not her the citizens have a problem with."

"Legally, you can't put me out of town," Mort said, taking a step closer to Dave, "I have every right to be there. I was just trying to be compliant. If you have some sort of document that says I can't legally come into town anymore, then I suggest you either let me see it or get off my property."

"Fine," Dave said, letting Mort know he'd made his point. He walked off the porch and drove off.

Mort went into the house and sat on the couch. He couldn't believe Dave had the audacity to come to his home at this time of night to bother him with something as trivial as this. He leaned back against the couch cushions and laid his head back.

About five minutes passed when Mort heard another knock on the door. This time it was quieter. Mort knew it had to be Dave again. He was really going to let him have this time. Mort didn't have time to be bothered with petty things like coming into town and who might see.

He drug himself over to the door and saw Shooter standing before him. Mort let out a loud sigh and rubbed his eyes making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Oh, I'm real pilgrim," Shooter said.

"What do you want?" Mort asked, through clenched teeth.

"What did Newsome want?" Shooter asked.

"Nothing worth mentioning."

"Did it have somethin' to do with your lady friend?" he asked, smiling.

"Not really," Mort said, making his way back to the couch. He left the door open, knowing that Shooter would follow him in.

"You know, ever since that purty lady came into yur life, the police sure have been visitin' you a lot." Shooter made his way into the living room and sat in one of the chairs next to couch.

"It has nothing to do with her," Mort retorted.

"Well, things were quiet till she came."

"I think you need to leave," Mort said, afraid of where the conversation was headed.

"Scared I'm gonna hurt 'er?" he smiled.

"You will not put a hand on her!" Mort yelled, a little too loudly. Looking upstairs, he hoped he wouldn't wake Deja.

"She sleepin'?" Shooter asked, standing.

"Don't you dare go up there!"

"Oh, what can it hurt?"

Shooter began walking up the steps, but Mort grabbed his coat tail and pulled him back down. A small scuffle ensued and Shooter swung out on Mort. The side of Shooter's fist had come in contact with Mort's temple. It knocked him to the floor. He was out cold.

Shooter grinned and headed back up the stairs. The bedroom door creaked as he opend it. Deja was sound asleep and Shooter made his way over to her. He sat on the edge of the bed, just staring at her. She was beautiful, he had to admit. But he wanted to know what so special about her, to make Mort so defensive of her.

Deja feeling the pressure on the bed, turned over to see Mort sitting there looking at her. A smile crossed her face as she looked back at him. Something seemed off, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly what it was.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up. He didn't answer. She ran her fingers through his hair and he leaned in to kiss her. His kiss was rougher than normal. She struggled to catch her breath and she tried to ease back, but he kept her close to his body.

She began laughing, breaking their kiss and asked him, "Is this your way of telling me you're in the mood?"

He just smiled at her. Laying her back on the pillows her descended upon her. He began by kissing her neck. His kisses were harder than usual. Deja was enjoying the difference, but couldn't understand what had gotten into Mort.

He lifted her shirt over her head and began to kiss the tender flesh of her breasts. His hands were roaming wildly as she pushed the hair out of his face. Mort normally eased her panties off, but his aggresiveness proved otherwise today. In one swoop, he ripped the fabric from her body with one hand.

Deja jumped at his swift movement and Mort brought his face just inches from hers. His tongue made it's way into her mouth. His normal passionate kisses were now course and barbaric. Without warning he pushed her legs apart and entered her. His thrusts were quick and rugged.

Deja had enjoyed the difference in his technique at first, but now it was beginning to hurt. His body was pressed tightly against hers as he continued his gyrations. He placed his left hand on the top of her head, to keep it from hitting the headboard.

"Mort? Mort!" Deja said, loudly.

He kept grunting and Deja felt as though she was being torn apart. "Not so rough, Mort." Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Mort please, slow down, it's hurting!"

Mort showed no sign of slowing. His face was contorted and he was lost in the moment. Deja began clawing at his back, hoping that would wake him from his trance. He did feel the pain, but just grabbed her wrists and held them firmly over her head with one his hands.

"Mort, stop!" she finally yelled.

"I'm...not...Mort!" he said in return.

Deja looked into his face and Mort returned her stare. She searched his eyes and saw they were cold and dark. She'd seen those eyes, and they weren't Mort's. These orbs belonged to Shooter. Terror took over her body and she tried to squirm away from him. His grip on her was too strong for her. This had somehow turned from what she felt was an innocent sexual encounter to rape.

She screamed for Mort repeatedly and Shooter covered her mouth with his hand. He was not about to let her ruin the moment. He loved the feeling of this woman underneath him. He knew why Mort could fall for someone like her. He pounded into her until he was exhausted. He collapsed on top of her and she just lay their, almost lifeless.

He moved to the opposite side of the bed and heard her sobs. She slipped out of the bed and locked herself into the bathroom. She prayed when morning came that Shooter would be gone. She had never experienced anything like that in all her life.

Turning on the shower, she climbed in and sank to the tub floor. Bringing her knees close to her body, she began to cry louder. The water was scalding hot, but Deja felt dirty. She wanted the water to cleanse her.

She couldn't remember how long she'd been in the tub, but her hands and feet had become wrinkled. She couldn't remember that happening to her since she was a child and wanted to play in the bathtub longer, before being drug out by her mother.

Rape was such an ugly thing. It was always thought of as a crime done to you by a stranger. Some decrepit looking man, hiding in the bushes taking you down to prove how much of a man he really is. This was so different. This was ultimately the man she loved that had pained her. She didn't want to reenter the bedroom. She slowly toweled off and put on the striped robe that hung on the bathroom door. She snuck into the bedroom and saw Mort's naked and tired body sleeping. She made her way downstairs to the couch and was asleep in no time.

Shooting pain in her most intimate of places awoke Deja. She wanted nothing more than to sleep the pain away, but that could take days. Her skin was a raw, red comlplexion due to the hot water in the shower.

That was the least of her worries. Her skin's complexion would return to normal and the pain between her thighs would subside. She was worried about her mental state. How could she continue to stay with Mort when she didn't know if Shooter would return.

In sheer agony, she got up from the couch and slowly made her way to the kitchen. She needed a drink like never before. She searched the cabinets until she found Mort's stash of Jack Daniels. She grabbed a glass, filled it with ice and poured half of it full of the licquer. Just as she was about to take a sip, she remembered she was pregnant. "Damn!" she said to herself and poured the drink down the sink. Her hand reached her stomach and she rubbed it. She hoped the baby hadn't been hurt by what happened. She didn't feel any pain in that area so she assumed everything was fine.

Slowly, she walked back into the living room and saw Mort descending the stairs. He looked well rested. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he saw Deja staring at him from the couch. He shot her a warm smile and made his way to her.

He attempted to place a soft kiss on her cheek, but she turned her head. "What's wrong?" he asked, unaware of the night's events.

Tears stained her face and he noticed the odd color of her skin. Then he spotted her wrists. They had markings on them. They were discolored. Bruised. He lifted them up, inspecting them. "Deja...what happened to you?"

"As if you don't know," she said, sniffling.

"Am I supposed to?" he asked quizzically.

Then it hit Deja. Mort didn't know what happened. From start to finish, her encounter had been with Shooter. At no time was Mort present. Just the thought of him not knowing what happened upset Deja even more.

She began to shake and Mort wrapped his arms around her. "Deja, please tell me what happened." He was begging her now.

"It...it was...Shooter," she cried softly.

Mort's face was puzzled. "Shooter?" he repeated.

Deja nodded. "What did he do to you?" Mort asked.

After several minutes passed, Deja finally brought herself to talk. "He raped me," her voice cracked.

Mort's eyes practically doubled in size. "He did what?"

"He came into the bedroom last night, pretending to be you, and I fell for it. I thought it was you...at first. We began to have sex...and...and then it began to hurt. I asked you, him, to slow down, that he was hurting me. And he just kept going," she wiped the tears from her eyes. "He held me down and I couldn't move. I called for you, but you never came."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," he said. "How could I have let this happen?"

"You didn't know Mort. There was nothing you could've done." It was strange how she was now the one comforting him.

"Well, that explains the markings on your wrists, but why is your skin so...different?"

"I took a really hot shower. Trying to cleanse myself, I guess."

"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry." Mort didn't know what to do. He had to get rid of Shooter somehow, but that wouldn't be an easy task. But this couldn't go on. Shooter had violated Deja, and Mort was not about to allow that to happen again.

"Deja, I need you to do something for me, for us, for our child," Mort said.

She was finally calming down, and gave him a funny look. "What could you possibly need me to do?" she inquired softly.

"I need you to leave," he answered seriously.

"What!"

"It's not safe with you around here. I need to work these demons out on my own. I can't risk him coming back and hurting you again. My conscious can't take that."

"Mort, you need me. I can't leave you now. Where would I even go?" Mort was losing it, she thought. This wasn't something he could handle alone.

"You can stay with your mom for awhile, can't you?" he asked.

"I suppose, but I just started my life here with you. What would I tell her?"

"Make something up. Say, I'm getting the house worked on and didn't want you to live in that kind of environment, being pregnant and all. You'll think of something."

"Why don't we just go get some sort of psychiatric help," she pleaded.

"That won't help. I've got to get rid of Shooter on my own and I can't risk you being around and getting involved. You have to leave."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Deja had gone through most of the day in a complete daze. She had agreed to leave within the next few days, but wasn't sure if she was actually going to go through with it. She didn't want to argue with Mort and he seemed to think that was for the best if she went away for a while.

She didn't think the house renovation lie would work on her mother so she figured she'd just tell her mom she wanted to come visit. It had been nearly a year since they'd seen each other and Deja was actually looking forward to a get together with Janice and Richard.

Mort was at his desk, but he wasn't working on his novel. He was lost in thought. Deja assumed he needed time to think of how he would get rid of Shooter. She picked up the phone and called her mom.

"Hi, Mom," Deja said, after Janice picked up.

"Wow, that's spooky," Janice said.

"What?" Deja asked.

"I was just getting ready to call you," she laughed.

"Yeah, that is spooky." Talking to her mother always put a smile on Deja's face. "What were calling for?"

"I wanted to share my wonderful news with you!" Her mother sounded very excited.

"Do tell," Deja said.

"Richard asked me to move in with him...in Ocho Rios!"

Deja paused for a moment, thinking she hadn't heard correctly. "Ocho Rios, Jamaica?"

"Yes! When we were down there on vacation he, we, really liked it. He said he could see himself living there. About five days ago he surprised me with the paperwork for the house! Can you believe that?"

Deja was in total shock. "Wow, I...I don't know what to say."

"We're actually going back down this Friday to see the house in person and see what kind of work needs to be done to it."

"Do you really want to move out of the States. Especially with me pregnant and all?" Deja didn't want her mother to leave her, but she wanted her to be happy and if that meant moving to a whole new country then so be it.

"I thought long and hard about that. But Deja, I'm almost 60 years old. I have to start living for me, ya know? And just because I'm moving to Jamaica doesn't mean I'm never coming back here to visit. I plan on seeing my grandbabies as much as possible. And of course, you and Mort are more than welcome to come see us."

Deja was taking all this information in, but it was a bit much for her to swallow. "What about your place?"

"Well, it's an apartment so there's not much to it. I'll have to break my lease, of course, but that shouldn't cost me too much. It's Richard's place I'm concerned with. I'm hoping he can find a good real estate agent to sell it. It must be worth at least $500,000."

Deja knew Richard was well off, but she didn't think it was to this extent. "Do you at least plan on saying good-bye in person?" Deja asked.

"Of course, honey. Richard and I were thinking of coming up there to see you before we left this week. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday?"

Well, Mort's doing some work to the house and he'd hate for you to see it in this condition. Maybe I can down there?" she asked, hating to lie to her mother.

"Do you really want to drive that distance alone? You must be a good four hours from us," her mother asked, concerned.

"Mort could drive me halfway and we could meet somewhere. Then I could spend the night with you all and Mort could meet us back at the halfway point on Thursday," Deja suggested.

"That sounds like a plan. We could meet at 'Lucy's Diner,' that would be about halfway, wouldn't it?"

"Sure," she told her mother.

"Good then. We'll meet tomorrow afternoon, say around...2 pm?" Janice asked.

"Sounds good to me too. I'm excited for you to meet Mort."

"Me too, sweetie." They both hung up and Deja began to pack her bags.

Mort drove as Deja sat next to him. She had packed much more than she needed. Deja was only staying for the night, but she had led Mort to believe that she'd be staying with her mom until Mort was able to get a grip on his Shooter 'situation.'

"I'm really going to miss you," he said, looking at her.

She smiled at him. "Me too."

"I hope I can figure all of this out before the babies are born." His words were heartfelt.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he placed the other on her growing belly. She still wasn't really showing, but she was more prominent in that area than most woman during this stage of the pregnancy. Must be because she's having twins, Mort thought.

He was happy to finally meet Janice, and Richard, but hated it was under these circumstances. Deja knew the trip was only overnight and didn't know what she'd do after her time was up. She couldn't stay at her mom's or Richard's because they were under the impression she was coming back. She had already worked everything out in her head. She just hoped it all went according to plan.

Pulling into 'Lucy's,' Deja spotted her mom's SUV. She literally jumped out of the car and ran to the passenger's side, where Janice was seated. Janice hopped out of the car and gave Deja a huge hug. She held her tight and Deja felt like she was five years old again. The only person that could comfort her like her mother was Mort. He had gone to the trunk to remove her bags.

"He's cute," Janice whispered into Deja's ear.

"I know," Deja grinned.

"Doesn't really look like your type though."

Deja knew her mom was right, but she was glad she was attracted to Mort nonetheless.

"Did you pack your whole house!" she asked Deja.

"Didn't know what I'd need," Deja laughed. "You know I tend to over pack."

"I see," her mom noted.

Janice made her way towards Mort and hugged him like she'd known him forever. Deja loved the way her mom embraced Mort. That meant her mother approved and that was very important to Deja.

Richard, who had been inside the diner, came out with a few slices of pie in to-go boxes. Deja made her way over to him. "Hi, Richard!"

"Hey, hon," he said. "How are you?"

"Good, you?"

"Couldn't be happier," he grinned.

"Let me put these slices of pie in the car, so I can give you a proper 'hello'."

He placed three of the boxes in the backseat and held the fourth in his hand. "Now come here and give me a hug," he said.

Deja walked over and hugged him. She really liked Richard. He was a good guy. She couldn't ask for anyone better for her mother. His hand reached down to her stomach and his smile widened.

"I can't believe you're having twins!"

"I know, talk about shock," Deja laughed.

"So is that him?" he asked, pointing to Mort.

"Yeah, I'll introduce you."

Deja made the necessary introductions and Richard handed Mort the last slice of pie. He figured Mort might need something to eat on the ride home. Mort and Richard put her bags into the SUV. "She sure isn't a light weight packer," Richard said to Mort.

"Yeah, I know," Mort let out a nervous laugh. He thought both Janice and Richard were very nice, but meeting the 'parents' was always a little nerve racking.

"I need to run into the restroom before we leave," Richard stated.

"Me too," Janice agreed.

As they walked into the diner, Deja backed Mort into the side of his car. She began to passionately kiss him. Hoping no one was watching. "What was that for?" Mort said, out of breath.

"Something to hold you over till I get back," she winked at him. She hadn't kissed him like that since the night the 'incident' occurred. She was still working through that, but didn't know when she'd see him again. She didn't want to think of their last intimate encounter as being the rape. She wanted to remember this moment. She wanted it etched in her memory.

"I'm going to miss you," she said.

"Me too."

"I hope you get this all worked out," she said sincerely.

"I will, I promise."

He opened the car door and slid in. Janice and Richard made their way back outside and waved good-bye to Mort. Deja leaned down and kissed Mort one last time. Making her way over to her mother's car, she began to cry softly.

The car ride to Richard's place was long and boring. She was exhausted and the fact that it was 90 degrees out wasn't helping.

They decided to stay at his place since it was so spacious. She got out of the car and made her way inside. His cook was preparing them a three-course dinner and Deja couldn't wait. She'd only eaten there once before and from what she remembered it was delicious.

Richard took her bags to one of the guest rooms. She and Janice walked to the back yard and admired the exotic plants and expansive pool. Deja had a seat on the patio and Janice brought them two glasses of lemonade. Richard had some work to do so he went into his home office and worked until dinner.

Deja and her mother caught up on everything. Deja told her mother about her and Mort's plan to turn the extra room downstairs into the kids' room. She was excited about all the changes taking place in her life and couldn't wait for the children to be born.

Janice went on about their house in Ocho Rios and how in love with Richard she was. Marriage wasn't in their forecast, but Janice didn't mind. As long as Richard treated her right, she was happy.

Dinner was served and they feasted on fried calamari with marinara sauce, Greek salad, asparagus, rack of lamb, sautéed potatoes and crème brulee. It was even more amazing then the last meal Deja'd had there.

The pregnancy was starting to wear on Deja and she was getting sleepy around 10 pm. She retired to the guest room and decided to call Mort before falling asleep. The phone rang several times before the machine picked up. She decided not to leave a message. She'd call back tomorrow.

Deja and Janice were in the backseat of Richard's Rolls Royce. Richard had some last minute business needs he had to tend to so he wasn't able to join them on Deja's trip back. They pulled out of the driveway and Deja figured now was the best time to put her plan into action.

"I'm gonna call Mort and make sure he's on the road," Deja said to Janice.

"Okay," Janice said.

Deja pretended the other end was ringing although she hadn't dialed a real number. Now was time to put her best acting to use.

"Hi Mort," she said. "You on your way?"

She paused, allowing time for a response. "What!" she blurted out. "Well, what should we do?"

"Hold on, I'll ask." She turned to Janice and told her that Mort's car had broken down and wouldn't be able to pick her up. She asked Janice if Richard would be mad if the driver took them all the way into Tashmore Lake. He could drop her off at 'The Lounge' and she'd get Lilly to take her home.

"We'll take you all the way to your house," Janice insisted.

"No, it's been a minute since I've been to work, so I need to go by there anyway."

"Well, if you say so," Janice gave in.

She dropped Deja off at 'The Lounge' and the driver carried her bags inside. Deja hugged and kissed her mom good-bye.

She passed the driver on his way out and she watched the Rolls Royce pull out of view. She made her way inside and saw Lilly behind the counter. She sat down on a bar stool and asked for a glass of water.

"Haven't seen you around lately," Lilly said, handing Deja the water.

"I called in a couple of times and then I took a vacation. I should be back this week though," she paused. "Lilly...I'm pregnant...with twins."

Lilly's eyes grew in size and she began to smile. "Congrats!"

"Thanks," Deja smiled. "Mind if I ask you for a favor?"

"Shoot."

"Mort's doing some renovations to the cabin, for the babies, and he didn't want me inhaling all that...stuff. Do you think I could stay with you for a while?"

"I don't think that should be a problem. I mean you did help me during the beginning of Todd's disappearance," Lilly said gratefully.

"Speaking of that, has anything come up on that?" Deja tried to sound as concerned as possible.

"No. The police here are idiots. And Newsome's their ringleader." Lilly rolled her eyes, and looked like she'd had enough of what Tashmore county considered law enforcement. "Their still investigating," she said mockingly.

"I'll just help out tonight since I'm already here," Deja offered.

"I think with you being pregnant with twins you probably need to take it easy. And a bar full of smoke is certainly no place to be."

"Well, I can't freeload off of you."

"How about we come to an agreement. You don't work here and help take care of my kids instead. You know, help them with their homework when they come from school, get them ready for bed on nights that I work, all that good stuff."

That offer sounded great to Deja. That way she wouldn't have to leave the house and risk the chance of running into Mort. Deja agreed and waited in the back until the bar closed.

Deja had been living with Lilly and her kids for about two weeks now. She was missing Mort terribly and had only talked to him a total of three times since she'd been gone. She had no idea what he was up to and he normally kept things pretty brief with her on the phone.

To keep herself occupied while the kids were in school and Lilly was working, she played on the internet, burned CDs and watched lots of television. She was becoming a bonafide couch potato. She'd never been this dormant before and it was beginning to depress her.

She'd been downloading all types of love songs on the internet to ease her sorrow. They only put her into more of a slump. She come across one Beyonce song that had her mesmerized. It described her relationship with Mort perfectly. She was a fan of R&B music, but Beyonce was never a favorite of hers, but this song just hit a nerve with Deja. At night before going to bed, for about five days straight, she played it over and over. It was her comfort.

She decided to write out the lyrics and mail it to Mort along with a burned copy of the song. If he wouldn't take her calls, at least not most of them, she could express her feelings for him through music.

Mort had walked to his mailbox and to his surprise there was a package inside. There was no return address so he was a bit leery of opening it. He laid it on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to get something to drink.

He was frustrated that he hadn't been any closer to finding a solution for his problem then had been when Deja left. He wanted to talk to her every day, but knew that wasn't possible. He would only want her to come back and that was not an option for him. She had to stay as far away from him as possible.

The phone would ring and he would know it was her, but would be too afraid to answer it because he'd have to tell her he hadn't figured out how to get rid of Shooter. He didn't want to disappoint her. He had to take at least a couple of her calls, to keep her from worrying.

He sat back down in the living room, the package taunting him. He decided to go ahead and open it. It was lightweight. He expertly removed the tape and wrapping. Inside it he found a blank CD and two pieces of paper. He opened the paper on top first. It read:

_Dear Mort,_

_I know we're in a strange place right now. I just want you to know that you're still my everything. I hope we can get through this trying time in both of our lives with as much ease as possible. The enclosed song is a comforter to me. It lulls me to sleep at night because I know you can't be here to hold me. Some of it expresses my emotions to you, while I like to think other parts are your feelings for me. Put the CD in and read the lyrics, written down for you on the other sheet of paper. I love you._

_Dangerously In Love,_

_Deja_

He placed the CD into the player and soft music filled the room. He returned to the couch and opened the second letter. He read the lyrics as the singer took command of the room:

_I love you, I love you, I love you_

_Baby I love you_

_You are my life_

_My happiest moments _

_Weren't complete if you weren't by my side_

_You're my relation_

_In connection to the sun_

_You next to me there's no darkness I can't overcome_

_You are my raindrops_

_I am the seed_

_You and God, who is my sunlight_

_I bloom and grow so beautifully_

_Baby I'm so proud, proud to be your girl_

_You make the confusion go all away_

_From this cold and mixed up world_

_I am in love with you_

_You set me free_

_I can't do this thing called life without you here with me_

_Cause I'm dangerously in love with you_

_I'll never leave_

_Just keep loving_

_The way I love you lovin' me_

_And I know you love me_

_Love me for who I am _

_Cause years before I became who I am_

_Baby you were my man_

_I know it ain't easy, easy lovin' me_

_But I appreciate your love and dedication_

_From you to me_

_And later on in my destiny_

_I see myself havin' your child_

_See myself bein' your wife_

_And see my whole future in your eyes_

_The thought of all my love for you_

_Sometimes I just wanna cry_

_I realize all my blessings _

_Am grateful to have you by my side_

_I am in love with you_

_You set me free_

_I can't do this thing called life without you here with me_

_Cause I'm dangerously in love with you_

_I'll never leave_

_Just keep loving_

_The way I love you lovin' me_

_Every time I see your face, my heart smiles_

_Every time it feels so good it hurts sometimes_

_Created in this world to love, to hold, to feel, to breathe_

_To live you_

_Dangerously in love_

_I am in love with you_

_You set me free_

_I can't do this thing called life without you here with me_

_Cause I'm dangerously in love with you_

_I'll never leave_

_Just keep loving_

_The way I love you lovin' me_

The lyrics had taken Mort aback. He knew Deja felt strongly for him, but he had no clue as to the depths of her love. She considered herself to be 'dangerously' in love with him. He couldn't think of a more perfect way to word it. He felt the same way for her. He put the song on repeat and listened to it until finally falling asleep.

It was 8:30 pm when Deja received a call on her cell phone. It was one of the few that she received. She as glad to see Mort's number pop up.

"Hi," she said.

"Thank you," Mort said.

"For what?" she asked, confused.

"I got the CD and lyrics earlier today."

A smile formed on her lips. "You like it?"

"Well, I've never been a huge fan of R&B, only having a few favorites, but this is definitely on the top of the list. It's such a...powerful song. I mean the lyrics, to be 'dangerously in love' with someone...that's just a...powerful message.

"I felt the same way, the first time I heard it. It's like...a song has never captured my feelings in this way before. I had to share it with you."

"I'm glad you did. I guess if both of us make a vow to listen to it each night before going to sleep it'll almost be like we're...together."

"In an odd way, that makes a lot of sense," she agreed.

"It's been playing all day," he laughed.

Deja joined him in the laughter, "Me too," she admitted. "Thank you for calling."

"No problem. Well, I better start working back on this novel. It's been kind of neglected lately."

"I understand. I love you," she said.

"I'm dangerously in love with you," Mort retorted.

A smile appeared on her face. She told him goodnight and hung up. That night Deja had nothing but sweet dreams of Mort. She made up in her mind that she would stick it out at Lilly's for another day or so and then she was going back home...home to Mort.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Mort was at a loss. He didn't know what he needed to do in order to bring Shooter forth and confront him. He played with the hat, cursed Shooter's name, even claimed he'd kill himself if Shooter didn't appear. None of it worked.

He was on the verge of just calling Deja and asking her to come back home. He went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it to see a police woman standing there.

"Hi, is Deja Brown available?" she asked.

"No, she's actually gone on vacation for a while. Something I can help you with?" Mort asked.

"Maybe. Mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all." He widened the door and moved to the side allowing the woman to enter.

"How rude of me," she began, "I'm Officer Johnson." She stuck out her hand and Mort shook it.

"Mort Rainey. But I'm sure you already know that."

She gave a small smile and nodded. She was a petite woman, like Deja, but a little heavier. He was surprised that Sheriff Newsome had finally decided on getting some extra help. Even though Tashmore Lake was a small town, an arthritic sheriff wouldn't be able to handle things all alone.

"So what can I help you with, Officer Johnson?"

"We're still investigating the Todd Baker disappearance. On our last visit here we didn't get a chance to speak with you. Mind if I ask you some questions now?"

"Go right ahead," Mort said.

"Well, were you aware that Todd Baker took Deja home the night of the disappearance?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. Deja's car wouldn't work, so he was being a good friend and dropping her off."

Officer Johnson wasn't picking up on anything with Mort. He was telling the same story as Deja had, but for some reason when Deja had told it it didn't fit. She had run out of things to ask and didn't want to intrude on Mr. Rainey anymore so she thanked him and left. She would have to come back when Deja returned.

Making her way to her police car, she spotted something on the ground. It was a small rock, but it looked different than the others. She picked it up and examined it. It was colored with a dark reddish-brown material. Could it be blood? she asked herself. She put it in her car and drove off.

Mort had watched Officer Johnson pick up something from the ground and take it with her. He wasn't sure what it was, but anything she picked up couldn't have been good. Was she on to them? he asked himself. He hoped not.

Deja had packed all of her things and was in the midst of saying good-bye to the kids. She promised them she'd be back to visit as often as possible and they were more than welcome to visit her, although she knew that would probably not happen since she lived with Mort.

Lilly agreed to drive her home, with some hesitation. She liked Deja a lot, but Mort Rainey still scared her, like most everyone in town. They pulled up to the cabin and Mort's car was gone. Deja got out of the car and Lilly followed carrying her bags.

"Thanks for everything Lilly," Deja beamed.

"Thank you, for helping with the kids."

The two women hugged and Deja promised to stop by and visit. She walked into the house and it looked the same as she had left it.

"Mort? Mort?" she called out. No answer.

She lugged her suitcases upstairs and set them to the side. She wasn't in the mood to unpack. She came back down and fixed herself a sandwich. She sat at the kitchen table and thought about how surprised Mort would be to see her. She hoped he wouldn't be too upset with her for coming back unannounced.

She happened to glance out the window when she saw a familiar face. It was Officer Johnson. She had parked her car and was snooping around. Deja let out a sigh. She couldn't believe this woman was back bothering her. One thing that struck Deja as odd, was that Officer Johnson wasn't in uniform and seemed to be driving her personal vehicle. Deja didn't know if she was here on official business or not.

She decided to not come outside quite yet, she'd observe Officer Johnson and see exactly what she was doing. She was inspecting the ground, picking up rocks. Deja couldn't make out why. She'd let her mill around the yard a little longer before she would head out. Unless she had a warrant or something she had no right to be on their property. Deja wasn't really up on the law, but she did know she needed warrant to search the property.

After watching Officer Johnson for another minute or so, Deja slipped on her house shoes and walked out. "Can I help you?" Deja asked.

She must have startled the officer, because she dropped the rocks in her hands and her face was contorted. She let out an uneasy giggle. "Sorry, I wasn't sure if anyone was home."

"Why?" Deja asked.

"Um...well, I...I had stopped by yesterday, looking for you and Mr. Rainey informed me you were on vacation. And his car isn't here now, so I thought maybe no one was home," she stammered.

"Well, I'm back," Deja said bluntly. "What can I help you with?"

"I just wanted to talk a little. About Todd's disappearance."

"I thought we discussed all of that already?" Deja was becoming aggravated.

"Well, we did, but I just wanted some...clarification on some things."

"Like what?"

"Like your relationship with Todd Baker?"

"Hewas my boss, what else would you need to know?" Deja made her way down the porch steps and was now only a couple of feet from Officer Johnson.

"Well, some of your coworkers and customers seem to think their may have been more to it. He flirted with you a lot, isn't that correct?"

"He flirted with everyone. What's your point?"

"Did he ever outwardly hit on you?"

Deja let out a laugh and shook her head.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Look, there was nothing 'sexual' going on with me and Todd. He was my boss and that was it. I don't know where you're trying to go with this, but our relationship was totally innocent. And furthermore, I don't appreciate you coming here to accuse me of...cheating." Deja had become heated and Officer Johnson picked up on that immediately.

"There's no need to be defensive, Deja," Officer Johnson said calmly. She was hoping to provoke her, get her to admit something, let it slip out.

"How can I not be defensive when you're here accusing me of cheating and murder!" Deja was letting her emotions get the best of her.

"Murder, who said anything about that?"

Deja instantly regretted her last statement. Todd wasn't officially declared dead, he was just missing. She had to think of a quick recovery.

"I'm sure that's where you were headed with this," Deja said.

"No, actually I wasn't."

Mort's car had pulled up next to the women and he had a confused look about him. He wasn't sure what to make of the two of them. Officer Johnson had come in her civilian attire and Deja was back. He definitely needed some answers.

"What's going on?" he asked, no one in particular.

Deja pointed at Officer Johnson. "She came here, snooping around!"

"I just came to talk some more. Deja's a little defensive on the topic of her and Todd's...relationship." She had to word this just right so she could get the reaction she wanted from both of them.

"Their relationship?" Mort asked.

"According to some of her customers...and coworkers, Deja and Todd were more than friendly."

"That's bullshit!" Deja yelled.

"I was just coming here to get answers on that."

"That's not true, Mort. She didn't even think anyone was here. She was snooping around the yard, picking up rocks or something."

"Is that true Officer Johnson?" Mort asked. "Because without a warrant you have no right to do that."

"I was just piddling around. Nothing serious," she said, matter-of-factly.

"It's still not legal. Are you even here on official business?" He looked at her clothing.

"Well...not really...I mean, I...I just wanted to ask you about her and Todd's relationship, that's all. I had forgotten yesterday."

"Well, then I think you need to leave my property before I call YOUR coworkers and ask them to remove you for trespassing."

Officer Johnson took a step closer to the couple. "I have something on both of you. It could possibly end this case and put both of you behind bars for a very long time. Why don't you just turn yourselves in right now," she sneered.

"What could you possibly have on us?" Deja scoffed.

It hit Mort. The rock she'd picked up yesterday. Something must've been on it. Some sort of DNA or something. He wasn't about to admit to anything based on that piece of evidence. For all he knew whatever she'd found could've been linked to another person. Maybe Amy or Ted.

"We're done here," he said turning around and walking towards the house. "Come on Deja."

She gave him a strange look and then followed him in the house. Officer Johnson just stood there. Mort turned around and told her to leave his property at once. She got into her car and drove away.

Once inside, Deja asked, "What was that all about?"

"She picked up something, a rock I think. From the yard yesterday and took it with her."

"A rock?" Deja asked confused.

"That must've been why she came back today. To see if she could find something more. I don't know what was on that rock, but it had to be something important enough if she took it with her."

"Blood maybe?" Deja asked.

"Could be."

Mort sat on the couch and began massaging his temples.This situation was overwhelming him. He didn't have the slightest clue as to how to solve it. Officer Johnson talked a good game, but Mort wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. Either way he couldn't take that chance. He had to get rid of her.

"Don't stress about this," Deja said, breaking into his thoughts.

He looked up at her standing over him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Are you mad?" she asked.

"No, I just wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I really missed you Mort. I can't stand to be apart from you for so long," she said, sitting next to him.

Deja put her arm around his shoulder and looked him deep in the eyes. "Have you figured out what you're gonna do about Shooter?" she asked.

"I've come to some sort of decision, but I don't think you're going to like it," he said solemnly.

"Well, what is it?" she asked anxiously.

"This is the only solution I've been able to come up with. And I've thought about it long and hard. The only way to kill Shooter, is to...kill me."

Deja broke out into laughter. "Good one, Mort. Very funny," she rolled her eyes.

He took her hands in his. "I'm serious, Deja."

Her laughing ceased. Her heart began racing. "Mort, you don't mean that."

"Yes, I do."

"Not more than a day ago, we were telling each other how much in love we were. We're getting ready to have a family. You can't really be thinking of..." she couldn't even manage to finish her sentence.

"I've thought about it and it seems like the only solution. If I'm here, then so is he. I can't take the chance of him hurting you again, or even worse hurting the kids."

Deja began to crying. Mort wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "What about some type of psychiatric help?" she asked.

"I thought about that too. But they'd keep me in there forever and it still wouldn't guarantee that Shooter would leave. I can't spend the rest of my life in a mental institution. Can you imagine you and the kids coming to see me there?"

"Suicide is not the answer Mort. You can't leave me," she cried.

"I haven't made a final decision, but it seems like the only solution. Why don't we just think about it and discuss it again later."

That was fine with Deja. The longer they waited to have that conversation, the more time Mort would have to realize it was a stupid decision. She was not giving up on him that quickly. If Mort wouldn't find another solution, then she would.

She'd spent every day of the next week at the library. She was researching Mort's condition and trying to find some sort of answer to help cure him. She'd recalled a few movies she'd seen with people struggling with inner voices like 'Fight Club' and 'Identity' but the outcome in those weren't that great. She couldn't imagine having to 'shoot' Shooter out of Mort.

All the books she'd researched led to the same conclusion. Commitment to a mental facility. There was no way Mort would go willingly, and she didn't know if he could ever forgive her if she had him admitted.

The library was closing and Deja felt defeated. All her trips there were for nothing. She was no better off than when she started. A small draft had picked up and Deja caught a chill. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked to her car.

Fishing her keys out of her purse, she heard a noise behind her. She turned to see Officer Johnson staring back at her. "Are you following me now?" Deja asked.

"No, small town. Just happen to be in the same place at the same time. I was leaving the diner," Officer Johnson said pointing towards the small restaurant across the street. She knew she was lying, but hoped Deja wouldn't pick up on it.

Truth was, she had seen Deja at the library twice earlier that week and decided to see if she'd return. She did. Officer Johnson never went into the library, but decided to confront Deja today.

"So what do you do in there till closing?"

"None of your business," Deja replied, pulling her keys from her purse and unlocking her car door.

"Fine, you don't have to tell me. Have a good night." Officer Johnson walked to her car and just before Deja closed her car door she expertly turned around and left Deja with a few lasting words. "Oh yeah, before I forget, I found a rock on your property the other day. I had it examined. There was blood on it. Matches the DNA of Todd Baker. Same blood type. We'll be taking you and Mort in for questioning tomorrow. Don't skip town or anything," she winked.

Deja sat frozen in her car. Was Officer Johnson serious, or was she just trying to rattle her. If she was telling the truth why would she tell her now. Why not just surprise her and Mort tomorrow?

Officer Johnson did have the rock taken in as evidence. But the blood didn't match Todd's. She was bluffing. She hoped her lie would give her a confession from Deja. She had nothing, but her own suspicions, connecting Deja to Todd's disappearance.

Just then Deja stepped out of her car, and walked toward Officer Johnson. "Wait," she said. "Can we talk?"


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

"Sure, we can talk," Officer Johnson said, revealing a little too much excitement in her voice.

"That rock that you found...it doesn't really prove anything. I mean...Todd could have injured himself somehow and been bleeding when he dropped me off."

"Deja, come on. We're both smart adults."

"Well, what if I had a confession for you. But not exactly from me," Deja said.

"From who then?" Officer Johnson had a question look on her face.

"Mort."

"How would you get him to do that?"

"He couldn't stand the thought of me in jail...especially since I'm pregnant. I'm sure I can get him to confess to everything."

"When?" Officer Johnson asked eagerly.

"Well, now I guess. Follow me home and we'll confront him together."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Officer Johnson watched Deja get into her car. She wished she had her cell phone with her so she could call her partner, but she was sure he'd find out soon enough. She was about to crack this case all alone. She couldn't wait to start reaping the benefits.

Deja constantly checked her rearview mirror to make sure Officer Johnson was following. She hoped she didn't bring her cell phone with her to call for some sort of backup. She couldn't make out any calls so she figured she was free and clear.

Taking her phone out of her purse, she dialed her house number. It rang three times before Mort answered.

"Mort! Listen to me. I've got something very important to tell you," she said in a rush.

"Deja, is something wrong?" he asked, worried.

"Just listen to me. Officer Johnson was waiting for me at the library. She said she had the rock, that she found by the house, examined and that it had Todd's blood on it. She's on to us."

"What! She's bluffing Deja!" Mort yelled into the phone.

"Just listen. She's following me home right now. I led her to believe that we did kill Todd."

"You did what!" he said, interrupting her.

"Mort, she was dead serious. I can't have our babies from jail. We've got to do something about this. I told her I'd get you to confess to everything. I didn't know what to do. I was panicking and words just started coming out of my mouth, with no control!" Deja was starting to cry.

"Calm down. Breathe, just breathe," he remembered once telling Amy the same thing. "Look, you made a good decision. Bring her here and I'll take care of everything."

"What are you going to do?" she asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"To be honest I'm not sure. Where's Shooter when when you need him, huh?" he let out a nervous laugh.

"No time to joke Mort."

"I know, sorry. How much longer till you're here?"

"About five minutes maybe," she said.

"Okay. I'll figure something out by then." He hung up and began to brainstorm.

Within seconds his mind began working in overdrive. He ran up the stairs and opened the nightstand by his side of the bed. He dug through his things until he came across what he was looking for.

A flashback entered his consciousness. He was back at Irv's Lakeside Motel. He was standing in front of Amy and Ted, who were in bed together. The gun was pointed at them. It was cold that night, the wind cut through him like a knife. The look on Amy's face was priceless. She was scared out of her mind. And Ted, well he was pissed.

Mort remembered not having any bullets in the gun that night. He just wanted to scare them. But tonight he needed the bullets. He searched the drawer and came up with two. He placed them in the gun and headed back downstairs.

He saw the headlights of the first and then the second car flash across the living room. Sweat began to form at his temples. He assumed that Officer Johnson would be armed, so he would have to beat her to the punch.

Deja and Officer Johnson reached the front door. She fumbled with her keys and Officer Johnson noticed. "Nervous?" she asked.

"A little," Deja admitted.

"Why would you turn him in?" Officer Johnson asked.

"Too be honest, I'm a little frightened of him. I love him, but he's a dangerous man. And I can't have someone dangerous around my children. This will be for the best." Deja tried to look as somber as possible. She just hoped Officer Johnson bought it.

They walked inside and the house was completely dark, with the exception of the kitchen. Deja didn't know what Mort had planned, she just hoped it would work. She had created this mess and now she was relying on him to get her out of it.

"Mort? Mort?" Deja called. There was no answer. "He must be upstairs," she said to Officer Johnson. "I'll be right back."

She walked upstairs into the bedroom. Mort was nowhere to be found. Then suddenly she heard two gunshots ring through the air. She was so startled she let out a shriek. She ran out the bedroom and down the stairs. Mort was standing over Officer Johnson's body. Her lifeless form was oozing blood.

Deja ran to Mort's side and could feel how cold and wet he was. He was a paler shade of his former self. Deja knew it was Mort that had done this, not Shooter. He looked terrified. This was the first person that Mort had ever killed.

He stared at the body, unable to move. Deja led him to the couch and made him sit down. She tried to remain as calm as possible because someone needed to during this time. She knew they would have to dispose of the body, but she wasn't sure as to where. It would have to be somewhere new. Not where any of the other bodies had been buried.

Mort was in a fog for the next 30 minutes. He finally came to when he heard rustling in front of him. Deja was rolling Officer Johnson's body onto a large, black trash bag. She had torn it in half, doubling it in length. Looking at her in this moment, he was amazed at her strength.

Deja hadn't even noticed Mort changing positions. Before she knew it he was knelt down beside her helping her move the body. After positioning her just right, Deja retrieved another large bag and placed it over Officer Johnson's head. It went about half down her body. Another bag, put over her feet, met the first one. Mort taped the bags around the body making sure she was bound tightly.

The next step would be the hardest. Moving the body out of the house. Mort didn't want Deja straining herself too much, so he suggested she take a break while he worked. He towed the body to the edge of the lake and lifted her into a canoe. He walked back into the house to get a rope and removed one of the cement blocks lying idly on the side of the house.

Deja had began to clean the blood up from the floor as Mort finished disposing of the body. He got into the canoe with the items and rowed out to the middle of the lake. Tying one end of the rope around Officer Johnson's feet and the other end to the cement block he began to push her over the edge of the canoe. Her dead weight was heavy for him, but he managed to get her out along with the cement block. The boat nearly tipped over and he had to regain his balance. The body seemed to sink with no problem, but Mort sat in the middle of the lake for another 15 minutes just to make sure she didn't resurface.

He rowed back in to shore. He looked over the yard and forgot that Officer Johnson's car was still parked in his driveway.

Mort wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but he couldn't. He still had a lot of work to do. He told Deja they would have to dispose of the car some way. He didn't want to drive it over the cliff because he'd worn that method out by now. They decided to just have Deja drive it back to the library and park it and then she'd leave with Mort.

It was almost 4 am, so Mort figured there shouldn't be much going on in town. Deja left five minutes before Mort and parked Officer Johnson's car exactly where it was earlier that night. She was careful to wear a long sleeved shirt, pants, closed in shoes, gloves, pinned her hair up and covered it with one of Mort's beanies. She didn't want any trace of her to be found in that car.

After parking, she made sure no one was in sight and met Mort at the location they'd agreed on. She slipped into the passenger's side and they made their way back home. Just before falling to sleep in their bed, specks of sunlight began to filter in through the window.

Mort woke up first. He decided to let Deja sleep. She had to be worn out from the night before and he knew she was in no condition to strain herself to the extent that she had. He was exhausted and his face showed it.

He began inspecting the living room for any sign that may show Officer Johnson was there. He couldn't spot anything. Deja had done a great job cleaning everything up. He plopped down on the couch and turned the television on. There was absolutely nothing on. He hated channel surfing, but wasn't in the mood to do much else.

Something on the Discovery channel had caught his attention. It was a program on personality disorders. He figured it was something he could watch and learn from. There was a slight chance someone would tell him how to get rid of Shooter.

The show lasted for two hours and Mort learned a lot of useful things. The doctors gave a lot of useful ways to confront the inner voices. Some ways were through medication, hospitalization, but the one Mort clung to the most was through confrontation. They told the story of a man that had two personalities inside of him and in order to eradicate them he was forced to draw them out and destroy them. His doctor was present when the encounter happened and he helped the man overpower his other two selves. He had been living for the last 12 years without them coming back.

This was the breakthrough Mort needed. He couldn't wait for Deja to awake so he could tell her he'd finally found a way to get rid of Shooter. He just hoped it would work.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Deja had finally woken up sometime that afternoon. Her body was still worn out, but she couldn't just sleep all day. She forced herself out of the bed, showered and got dressed.

Mort was at his desk, lost in thought. "Morning," Deja said, closing the bedroom door behind her.

"Morning? Morning already happened," he replied softly.

Deja checked the clock on the wall and sure enough it wasn't morning anymore. "Sorry I slept so long."

"No apologies necessary. You deserve to sleep all week."

She smiled and sat in the chair next to his desk. She didn't even need to talk to him. She just wanted to sit there and stare. She loved how he looked when he worked. His mind was totally consumed with what he was typing.

Glancing over at her, he asked, "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just thought I'd watch you work. If you don't mind."

"No, not at all."

Mort began typing and for the next hour Deja got comfortable in the chair and watched him. She wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep, but when she awoke her body was cramped. Mort was still typing and still in deep thought.

"How long was I out for?" she asked.

"About an hour or so," Mort answered.

"Didn't know I was still so sleepy," she yawned.

"Yeah, seems like your sleeping the day away. You must be hungry."

"I guess so," she said, making her way downstairs to the kitchen to prepare something to eat.

She was seated at the kitchen table, eating her sandwich, when Mort walked in. "Can we talk?" he asked, sitting across from her.

"Sure."

"I think I may have a solution...about Shooter."

Deja nearly choked on her food. "Are you serious?"

"I was watching some show on the Discovery channel this morning and it was about multiple personalities. I learned a lot."

"And did the program have solutions for those with multiple personalities?"

"It had lots of options, but one kind of stuck out."

"Do tell." Deja was eager. Any solution, besides his suicide theory, was worth a shot to her.

"Well, this one guy, and his therapist, were able to draw the personalities out, confront them and they basically disappeared."

"What did they say to get rid of them?"

"The therapist just kind of stood back, he was just there to make sure the guy didn't hurt himself. But the man with the personalities took charge over his personalities. All his life they'd told him what to do and he was a passive bystander. He took charge of the situation. A struggle ensued and the guy won."

"Wow, do you think we could get the same results?"

"I don't see why not. The hard part will be drawing Shooter out. I tried it while you were gone, but it never seemed to work."

"Well, what provokes Shooter?" Deja asked seriously.

"Hmmmm...he gets drawn out whenever the cops show up," Mort gave a slight laugh, "or with you sometimes."

"We can't guarantee when the cops will show, so that's not a safe bet. But maybe I could do something to draw him out?"

"I don't want to take that chance. He could injure you in the process. It's not safe."

Deja knew Mort was right, but they needed to figure something out soon. She was coming up on her fifth month of pregnancy and she wanted to make sure Shooter was gone before she delivered.

Weeks passed and nothing happened. Deja and Mort were tired of waiting this out. It seemed like Shooter showed when neither of them wanted him to, but when they did he was nowhere to be found.

They tried to keep their lives as normal as possible. They went to their scheduled doctor appointments, Mort continued to work on his book and Deja visited Lilly and her kids whenever possible.

The police still hadn't tied her to Officer Johnson's disappearance, or at least they hadn't paid her a visit. She was thankful for that. Her pregnancy was getting the best of her and she wasn't sure if she could handle any added stress.

She and Mort had a game plan in case Shooter showed up. Mort knew that the police could definitely provoke him. The wrench in that plan was that they would never be certain if or when the cops would show. Mort had told Deja if the cops showed up and Shooter was brought forth after the cops left, she was to let Mort confront him alone. She should lock herself in the bedroom until the struggle is over. If for some reason that didn't work and Shooter won the struggle over Mort and came after her, she should shoot him. Deja didn't like the idea, but if it did come down to that, she could always shoot him in the arm or leg, some place that wouldn't be fatal.

Mort and Deja had just come back from seeing Dr. Phillips, when they spotted the two police cars in the driveway. Mort grabbed Deja's hand in his and squeezed it. He was sure after they left, they would finally get the breakthrough they'd been waiting for.

Mort stepped out of the car first and walked to Deja's side helping her out. She had about three months left in her pregnancy now and she was huge. She could barely manage on her own.

The policemen had gotten out of their vehicles and stood waiting for Deja and Mort to approach. Mort noticed there were four this time instead of the standard two. He knew Sheriff Newsome hadn't hired all new police officers. They must've been from New London. The police department was so small in Tashmore Lake that for serious cases, they often had help from the New London squad. The name on the side of the cars confirmed his suspicions.

"Afternoon officers," Mort said, his hand on the small of Deja's back, guiding her.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Rainey," the only female officer said.

Deja blushed and said, "Oh we're not married...yet."

"I apologize," the woman said again. "Do you mind if we speak with you all for a minute?"

"Some how I think it'll be longer than that," Mort whispered to Deja, making her laugh.

"Why don't we take this inside," Deja said, "My back is hurting."

The four officers followed Mort and Deja inside the house. Deja and Mort had a seat on the couch while the female officer sat in the chair beside them. The other policemen stood in front of them.

"I'm sure you've heard by now about Officer Johnson, she spoke with you about the Todd Baker disappearance?" the woman said.

"What?" Deja asked, pretending her best to be confused.

"You haven't heard?" Officer Reid, Officer Johnson's partner who Deja had just noticed, said.

Mort and Deja both shook their heads. They hadn't been into town much lately and honestly hadn't heard from anyone about Officer Johnson's disappearance.

"She disappeared a few weeks ago. Her car was at the county library, but there was no trace of her there. Just wondering if either of you had seen or heard from her?" Officer Reid said.

"No, I haven't spoken with her since the two of you came here together," Deja answered.

"Well, I know she had to come here at least once since then?"

"Why would you say that?" Mort asked.

"She came here, under no supervision of the Sheriff mind you, and had a rock brought in for testing. She had it sent off. No one knew about it until her disappearance."

"Well, we must've not been home when that happened," Deja said, looking at Mort.

"What was on that rock?" Mort asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say," Officer Reid answered.

"Well, if she was here without orders from Sheriff Newsome, doesn't that mean she was trespassing?" Mort asked.

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"Are you at liberty to say anything?" Deja asked, her voice increasing in volume.

"Not much."

"Then I have to ask that you all leave," Mort said.

"Well, I think we're done here anyway," the woman officer said, standing up. "If we have any more questions we'll be back by."

Mort escorted them to the door and watched as they drove away. Sitting back down next to Deja, he let out a deep sigh. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm just so tired of the police."

"I know, but hopefully this will blow over and we can move on."

He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. "You know, I'd just love to leave Tashmore Lake."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know. Maybe after the kids are born, we could move somewhere else."

"Like where?"

"I don't know. I hear Florida is pretty nice year round, or maybe California?"

"That's a bit far away isn't it?"

"What do we have tying us here? Your mom is in Jamaica, I don't have any family I'm close with. We have nothing keeping us here. I say we stick around a little longer, till this whole police investigation blows over, so they don't think we're trying to skip town. And after that, we go."

"It's not such a bad idea. We could start fresh in a new place where no one knows who we are." Deja seemed to be getting into the idea.

"Exactly. A new life for us and the kids."

"Well, first things first."

"And what's that?" Mort asked.

"Shooter. The police just came. He's liable to come here tonight."

"You know, I didn't even think about it. I guess we just wait it out."

"Yeah, I guess."

Three hours passed and still no Shooter. They were beginning to wonder if he'd show up at all. Mort suggested Deja go upstairs to bed. That Shooter would have a better chance of showing up if Mort was alone. He showed Deja where the gun was just in case she needed it.

Deja didn't know how long she'd been asleep for. The power had gone out earlier in the evening and the alarm clock's time blinked 5:00 pm. Deja heard the door squeak open and Mort entered. She held her breath because she wasn't sure if it was Mort or Shooter that had come to see her.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

"Mort?" Deja asked softly. He didn't answer. "Mort?"

"Yeah? Did I wake you?"

Deja felt a mix of relief and disappointment. She was glad he wasn't Shooter because she didn't want to have to hurt him or vice versa. Disappointment because even the police visit hadn't made Shooter appear.

"It's fine. Coming to bed?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I've waited for him to show long enough. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen tonight."

Two months had passed and life was as normal as ever for the couple. Deja was almost full term and they were both excited about what was in store for them. It was a letdown that Shooter hadn't appeared yet, but the police hadn't been back either.

Mort had looked into buying a property down in Florida and came up with a great home in Jacksonville. With the money Deja had received from selling her home, the down payment was basically taken care of.

They decided to purchase the home with the help of a friend that Mort had in Jacksonville. He'd looked at the house and reported back to Mort that it was in great condition. Definitely worth the money. Mort trusted his friend, and in turn Deja trusted Mort. She was excited about the move. She knew moving with two little ones would be a challenge, but Mort assured her that the furniture would be there within hours of them arriving and until it was properly placed he would arrange for them to stay at an upscale hotel. He wasn't too fond of fancy hotels, but was willing to give Deja and the kids nothing but the best.

With all of the preparations for the delivery and move, Mort had almost forgotten about Shooter. He knew it was something he'd eventually have to deal with, but right now he had other things on his mind.

Mort and Deja decided to move to Jacksonville about a month or so after the children were born. It would afford them the opportunity to pack up the belongings that they'd take with them and not rush to get things finished.

Mort would keep the Tashmore Lake cabin for two reasons. The first being sentimental, the other being evidence. He knew that the people of Tashmore Lake would like nothing more than for him to sell so that someone could buy it and go snooping around. He wasn't going to give anyone that opportunity until he knew the bodies were completely disintegrated.

Deja had gone on a doctor's appointment and Mort excused himself from going by telling her he needed to finish his book before they left for Florida. Truth was he'd finished his book the night before. He was going to take it to the post office and have it delivered to his agent in the city.

After leaving the post office, he drove to New London. He arrived in front of the store and walked in. It had been his second trip there. He opened the fine glass door and walked toward the counter. The door slammed behind him, putting all eyes his way.

An older woman, maybe in her 70s, made her way to Mort. "Hello, Mr. Rainey. So good to see you again."

Shaking her hand, he said, "Sorry 'bout the door. Is it in yet? Mr. Douglas said it should be in by today?"

"Yes, it actually came in two days ago, but by your request we didn't call," she answered, a smile on her face. "Have a seat here, and I'll have Mr. Douglas bring it out."

Mort had a seat in front of one of the counters and began tapping his fingers on the glass case nervously. Mr. Douglas walked out and had a seat on the opposite side of the counter, facing Mort.

"Good to see you again Mr. Rainey," Mr. Douglas said.

"Likewise."

"Well, here it is," Mr. Douglas said, pulling out a small black box. He laid it on the glass countertop and opened it.

Inside the box was a princess cut, diamond engagement ring. It held two smaller sapphire stones on each side of the one carat center stone. The band itself was made of platinum and had the words "Dangereusement Dans L'Amour" engraved inside. It took some doing, but Mort made sure those exact words would fit in it.

He examined the ring making sure it was exactly what he'd ordered. It was perfect and he hoped Deja would like it. He gave Mr. Douglas his credit card to fulfill the order and he was back on his way to the cabin.

Mort hadn't realized how much time had gone by. It was beginning to get dark outside. He pulled into the driveway and saw that Deja had already returned from her appointment.

She was lying on the couch, feet resting on top of a pillow. "Where have you been?" she asked as he hung up his coat.

"Dropped my manuscript off at the post office."

"So you finished it?" she asked excitedly.

"Yep. How was your appointment?"

"Routine. You didn't miss much. I'm completely worn out though," she sighed.

"How about I draw you a bath?" Mort suggested.

"Draw me a bath? Doesn't that sound a little old fashioned?"

"What do you want me to say? Run the bath water for you?" he joked.

Deja began laughing. "Yeah, that sounds better. And yes, I'd love for you to DRAW me a bath," she said in her best British accent.

Mort headed upstairs and ran the water in the tub. He poured bubble bath into it and began lighting the candles Deja had placed there a few months ago. He wanted her to relax and enjoy it so he could prepare the rest of the house for their special evening.

"It's ready," Mort said, walking down the stairs.

He helped her upstairs and undress in the bedroom. She walked into the bathroom and was shocked by the candles and music playing. He had put a small CD player in the bathroom and loaded it with her "Les Miserables" CD, which he knew always put her in a good mood.

She turned to him and kissed him softly on the lips. "Thank you, I really needed this."

He helped her into the tub and watched as her body descended below the bubbles. "Hope I can get out when I'm done," she laughed.

"Just call me when you need me," Mort said.

Closing the door behind him, he was in a mad dash for time. He had purchased about 40 candles of various sizes and kept them in the trunk of his car. He retrieved them and began placing them throughout the house. They filled almost every room.

He straightened up the living room and bedroom as best he could. He also laid red and white rose petals throughout the house. He felt it was incredibly cheesy, but knew that Deja would appreciate the effort. The only thing he was stumped about was what type of music he wanted to play in the background.

He turned off all the lights, save for a small lamp hidden in the kitchen. He put Deja's Sade CD into the player. It was the music that played the first time they'd made love. It was nostalgic for them.

He sat on the couch waiting for Deja's call. Ten minutes later he was still waiting. He was worried some of the smaller candles would melt down before she finished her bath so he decided to go get her.

He knocked on the door and heard no sound. Pressing his ear against the door, he heard the faint music and then heard Deja's voice. She was singing. He loved her soothing vocals and decided to let her finish her song before bothering her.

"_...are bare and everywhere_

_The streets are full of strangers,_

_I love him_

_But everyday I'm learning_

_All my life_

_I've only been pretending, _

_Without me_

_His world will go on turning,_

_A world that's full of happiness_

_That I have never known,_

_I love him, I love him, I love him_

_But only on my own"_

Mort knocked on the door again, only a little louder this time. "Can I come in?" he asked.

"Yes," she said softly.

Mort hated to even get her out of the tub. She looked so peaceful. "Don't you think it's time to get out? Don't wanna get prune fingers," he laughed.

Deja's mind immediately regressed back to the night Shooter had raped her. She remembered cowering in the shower until her skin was red and wrinkled. She shook her head, erasing those thoughts.

Mort helped her out of the tub and she began drying off. Mort brought her her undergarments and a large white box with a pink ribbon attached. "Where did this come from?" she asked, after putting on her underwear.

"Just open it."

She carefully untied the bow and lifted the lid of the box. Underneath the tissue paper was a beautiful satin and lace, lavender nightgown. She lifted it out of the box and held it in front of her. It was gorgeous. This was exactly what she needed. Ever since her stomach tripled in size, she hadn't been feeling so pretty. This was the pick-me-up she needed.

Mort helped her put it on. It fit perfectly. She turned to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him. Mort took her hand and led her out of the bathroom.

"Why is it so dark?" she asked, her eyes adjusting to the dim light.

"Just follow me," he answered.

Her eyes took in the sight before her. The house was almost completely dark, apart from the many candles that were placed strategically throughout the house. She looked down as they descended the stairs and saw the rose petals strewn about. They were red and white. She was overwhelmed by what Mort had done. Tears filled her eyes, but for once they were tears of joy.

Mort walked her to the couch and helped her sit. "What is all this for?" she asked.

He took a seat across from her on the coffee table and began to speak. "Deja, you know that you mean the world to me. And from what I've been told, I mean the same to you." Deja let out a small laugh. He continued, "We've been through about just as much as any couple can endure. We're about to embark on a journey that's new to both of us. As you know I'm elated at the thought of becoming a father. And I couldn't think of a more perfect woman to be the mother of my children. I think I've used up all the cheesiness I have, so at the risk of overdoing it," he pulled the small black box from his back pocket, causing Deja to gasp and cover her mouth with her hand. He opened it, shining the ring before her, "Will you be mine, forever?"

"Oh my God. Mort...I was really not expecting this," he could tell she was totally surprised by his actions.

"I know I threw you for a loop, but I hope you'll consider this," he said softly.

"Of course!" she shouted, "I would love to be your wife!" Mort leaned forward and kissed her deeply. There was no more beautiful moment than this one. At this moment no one else in the world mattered.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Deja kept playing with her new ring. She turned it towards the light to see how glinted in the sun, she practiced greeting people with her left hand and she polished it at least three times a day. She couldn't have been happier to be engaged. She wished she could've had the wedding before the babies were born, but there was no way she was going to waddle down the aisle. She'd give herself enough time to lose her baby weight and then she'd find the perfect dress.

She had called her mother about two days prior and told her of the great news. Janice suggested if they couldn't find anywhere they liked in Florida to be married, that they were more than welcome to fly down to Jamaica and have the wedding there. It would also afford her the opportunity to see her grandchildren for the first time.

Deja was leaning against the window sill, looking outside when Mort came up from behind and embraced her. A smile instantly appeared on her face and she leaned her head back against his shoulder. He kissed her gently in the crook of her neck.

"I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"

Turning to face him, she said, "No, I was just lost in thought."

"About what?"

"I'm gonna really miss this cabin when we move. I was looking at the trees and how bare they are. Within a couple more months they're gonna start to bloom again. Our kids are never going to see this," she said sadly.

"That's not true. I have no intention of selling this place and I want nothing more than our kids to see this place in the winter, spring, summer and fall. We'll be back here more than you'd like I'm sure," he said, lightening the mood. "So what are you in the mood to eat?"

"Anything spicy. I've had a craving for it all day."

"There's this great little Indian restaurant in New London. I could go pick us up something if you want?"

"Oh, that would be perfect," she said excitedly as she handed him his coat.

Within an hour Mort had returned with the food. Deja lay on the couch fast asleep. He placed the food on the kitchen table and went into the living room to wake her. "Wake up sleepy head," he whispered into her ear.

"Back already?" she yawned.

"Yeah, and the food's getting cold." He figured that would do it. She jumped up as best as she could and made a mad dash for the kitchen.

Deja had had cravings before, but this one was intense. She couldn't wait to fix her plate and begin eating. Mort barely had time to start preparing his own plate, before she began to dig in. "Slowly," Mort advised, "we don't want to choke now do we?"

"Sorry, got a little ahead of myself," she answered. She waited for Mort to sit down with his plate, and she began eating, this time a little slower. "This is really good. Don't think I've ever had Indian before."

"Well, when you said spicy, it was the first thing to pop into my head," Mort answered, putting a big fork full of food in his mouth.

"Well, I'm glad you knew what to get. This is absolutely delicious."

"Glad you like it."

After cleaning their plates, they both cleaned up the kitchen and headed for the living room. "So what's the plan for this evening Mrs. Soon-To-Be Rainey?"

Smiling, she said, "I'd love to watch a movie. Something funny perhaps?"

"Let's see what we've got," he said as he walked to their DVD collection. "How about...'Monty Python's The Holy Grail'?"

"Watched that last week."

"...'Something About Mary'?"

"Not in the mood for that tonight."

"Well, we just watched 'Space Balls' last night," he murmured, "How about...'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'"

"Perfect! It's been forever since I've seen that."

"Good," he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. He was tired of calling out movies to Deja, who had become pickier about everything, except food, lately.

Mort popped the movie into the DVD player and got comfortable. Deja leaned against his chest and just enjoyed the closeness of him.

Halfway through the movie she got up and went to the restroom. Deja hadn't been gone two minutes or so, before Mort heard her scream from the bathroom. He ran and opened the door to see if she was okay.

"Oh my God Mort! My water just broke!"

"Your what!" A look of horror came over him. "It's not time yet!"

"You try telling the babies that then!" Deja yelled back.

"Oh my God, what are we gonna do?"

"Mort, snap out of it. We have to remain calm right now," she advised.

She grabbed his hand and he followed her back into the living room. "Okay," she sighed, "I want you to go upstairs to the bedroom. Under the bed is a small black suitcase. It has all my stuff inside it. I'm gonna grab your coat and keys. Just run up and get the bag and we can be on our way."

Mort was totally frazzled. He couldn't believe Deja was being so calm about all of this. He found her suitcase and slipped on a pair of his sneakers. He ran back down and saw her waiting by the door for him. She handed him his coat and the keys and they rushed out to the car.

Opening her door first, she slipped in. He threw the suitcase in the backseat and got in himself. He thought he'd never make it in time, but Deja knew they had a while before the babies would come. She was timing her contractions and they were far apart.

They checked into the hospital and Deja was given a prep room. It wasn't as cozy as the regular rooms, but it was just for her to have the baby in. Mort paced back and forth across the room. "Can you please stop?" Deja asked. "You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," he said, sitting in the small chair next to her bed.

A nurse, around the age of 30, walked in with an uneasy look about her. She came in to check on Deja and record her progress, but her eyes shifted to Mort every ten seconds. Mort didn't want to be a distraction so he excused himself and headed to the gift shop.

"So when will Dr. Phillips get here?" Deja asked the nurse, whose name tag read Jennifer.

"He was just paged and should be here within the next hour or so. You're nowhere near delivering so he'll be here in time," she reassured Deja.

"How long do you think it'll be before I do deliver?"

"It's hard to tell just by going by the contractions. The doctor will see how far you're dilated and then we can make a better assessment. I'm going to let you rest for a little while, if you need me or any of the other nurses just push this button. It'll alert someone at the front desk, okay?"

"Thanks," Deja said.

Mort passed the nurse in the hallway and he knew it was safe to come back in. He held a small, beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand. Entering Deja's room he placed the flowers on a small table next to the chair he was seated in.

"Those are beautiful," Deja said. "Thank you."

"No problem." He had a seat in the chair again.

"So, why did you sneak off?"

"I don't think your nurse liked me very much," Mort answered, in a childlike voice.

"Awww, poor baby," she said, poking out her bottom lip. This provoked a smile from him. She was glad to make him smile. He was in a such an uptight mood since they'd left the house, it was nice to see him feeling better.

"So what did the nurse say?" he asked.

"Just that the doctor was on his way, and we'd have to wait this one out. I don't think it'll be happening anytime soon," she rolled her eyes.

"What do we do in the mean time?"

"Well, I can tell you what I won't be doing. I won't be lying in this bed the whole time. I'm gonna give it another hour or so and then you and I are gonna start exploring this hospital."

"Sounds like fun," Mort said sarcastically.

"You have a better idea?"

"No."

"Okay then. Open up my suitcase and reach into the side pocket for my cards," she instructed.

Mort did as he was told and pulled out her Uno cards. He couldn't remember the last time he'd played Uno, but he knew it was a good way to pass time.

They'd played about six games of Uno by the time the doctor had come to see them. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized, "the weather outside is terrible and the traffic didn't help. I was coming back from the city."

"Yeah, we just missed the rain," Deja said.

"So, how are you feeling?" Dr. Phillips asked.

"Fine actually. I'm just ready to get this over with."

"Well, if you don't mind lying back down and we'll see how far along you are."

Dr. Phillips slipped on his gloves, got Deja and himself into position and began checking her. Mort had no clue as to what was taking so long or what Dr. Phillips was examining, but he figured he knew what he was doing, so it was best to let him do it.

"Well," Dr. Phillips said, removing his gloves and disassembling the stirrups Deja had her feet in. "You're nowhere near fully dilated. I think it could be about 11 hours or so before you're ready."

"Eleven hours!" Deja and Mort said in unison.

"I know, I know. That seems like a long time, but I've experienced much worse. Walking around the hospital for a while may induce the labor. You may want to try that. Other than that, it's just a waiting game. I have a couple of other patients I need to check on. I'll be back in an hour or so, okay?"

"Thank you doctor," Mort said, shaking his hand. After the doctor left, Mort turned to Deja and said, "So, you want go take a walk?"

"May as well."

He helped her out of the bed and they began to walk around their floor. They stopped when they reached a large window. It was the room where all the newborn babies were kept. They must've stood at that window for the next 45 minutes just oogling at the babies.

Deja was overcome by the thought of having her own children. Her mind was just now beginning to grasp the fact that she was about to be a mother. "You okay?" Mort asked, concern in his voice.

"I'm okay, just a little overwhelmed."

"Do you want to go back to the room?"

She wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes and nodded her head. Mort escorted her to the room and helped her get into the bed.

Over the next few hours they watched all kinds of television shows. Deja had even managed to fall asleep for a little while, but one of her pain-wrenching contractions soon awoke her.

Suddenly, her contractions were coming closer and closer. Dr. Phillips had stopped by once since their initial meeting. He told her he'd be back again, but hadn't arrived yet. Mort paged the nurse's desk to let them know about Deja's contractions.

Jennifer, the nurse from earlier, rushed into the room and timed her contractions. They were only a minute apart. "Let me page Dr. Phillips," she said, running out of the room.

"Mort...this isn't...supposed to be happening for another...six hours!" she managed to say.

"Sshhhh, calm down," he brushed the hair out of her face. "The doctor is on his way and we're gonna have these kids."

Another contraction hit. Grabbing his shirt by the color, she pulled Mort close to her. "Get Dr. Phillips in here now!" she snarled at him. He had never seen this side of her before. She looked like she could bite his head off.

Dr. Phillips, along with Jennifer, ran into the room and began to set up the necessary materials. Dr. Phillips injected the epidural and had Deja lie flat on her back. Within seconds another contraction hit. He waited until they were only seconds apart for Deja to begin pushing.

Mort was being the supportive soon-to-be father and stood by Deja's side, holding her hand. She had nearly crushed his hand a few times, but Mort knew it would all be over soon. Deja had begun pushing and Mort caught a glimpse of the first baby's head. All of the blood that surrounded the baby was too much for Mort. He was beginning to get weak and feel squeamish. He stumbled backward and had a seat in the chair.

The nurse checked on him to make sure he was okay. Deja hadn't even noticed he wasn't holding her hand anymore. She was in too much pain to pay Mort much attention.

By the time Mort had come completely to, Deja was no longer in labor. Jennifer and another nurse were cleaning the babies and had apparently already cut the umbilical cords. After doing the necessary cleanup, they wrapped the babies in blankets and put one child in each arm of Deja.

She was beaming. Mort finally had all of his strength back and made his way to Deja's side. "How long was I out for?" he asked.

"No more than five minutes, I'd say," she whispered.

"Can I hold one?"

"Not gonna pass out again are you?" she laughed.

"Ha Ha. No, I'm fine now," he said. He picked up the child closest to him and began baby talking.

"Is this the boy or girl," Mort asked Deja.

She began laughing. "To be honest, I don't know. I just checked to make sure they had ten fingers and ten toes each."

"And what verdict did you come up with?"

"They're perfect. There's 20 perfect toes and fingers. They're the most beautiful babies I've ever seen." She began to tear up again.

"All right, all right. Enough with the waterworks. We have work to do."

"Work? What kind of work?" she asked, curious of what Mort meant.

"Names. We have yet to decide on names for these two. Of course we could always go with Number One and Number Two."

"Not likely Mr. Rainey. Won't be naming my kids after bowel movements."

"Well, I know we narrowed it down to a few names and you know which ones I'm partial too."

"How about this. You name our little boy and I'll name our girl?"

"Yeah...I guess that will work..."

Deja let out a sigh. She checked under the blanket to see which child she had. "Okay, I've got the girl," she laughed. She looked at the little girl, with a head full of dark hair on her head, and said, "Alexis. She looks like an Alexis to me. Alexis Chloe Rainey."

"That seemed easy enough." Holding up the child in his arms, Mort said, "Anthony Michael Rainey. That seems like good, strong name. Huh, mom?"

"It's perfect. Anthony and Alexis."


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Deja, Mort and the children had been at home for a little over a week. Deja wasn't too exhausted yet because the children slept throughout most of the day. Mort was so in love with Deja he wanted nothing more than to be intimate with her, but per doctor's orders he had to wait eight more weeks.

Deja was seated on the couch and wanted nothing more than to help Mort clean up. He made sure she didn't lift a finger. She had enough to do with the babies so he didn't want her doing anything else.

"You need any help with the dishes?" she asked.

"No. I'll be done in a second," he answered.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and check on the kids." 

"Deja, please. You just checked on them not even five minutes ago. They're sleeping. Just relax. If they wake, we'll hear them in the baby monitor."

"Fine," she sighed. She knew this was a battle she couldn't win. Mort was adamant about her getting enough rest.

After finishing up in the kitchen, Mort sat next to Deja and placed her feet on his lap. He began massaging them and Deja was grateful. It was much needed. She wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep, but when she woke up the next morning she was wrapped up in Mort's arms in their bed. 

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Lexi and Tony, which they were sometimes called, were now 11 weeks old. They're sleep had decreased and Deja was running herself ragged. Mort knew she needed a break and he was happy to give it to her that evening. Deja had arranged for Lilly to watch the kids overnight while Mort treated Deja to a relaxing evening.

Deja was already going through separation anxiety and they hadn't even left for Lilly's house yet. Deja was packing their things and constantly came up with reasons as to why the kids couldn't go. 

"Dang!" she said.

"What is it now?" Mort responded.

"I don't think the kids can go." 

"And why not this time?"

"No milk." 

"I already packed it. Look, Deja...I know you're going to miss the kids, but it's only for one night and you and I really need some alone time. I promise as soon as we wake up tomorrow morning we'll pick them up.

"Promise?" she said, looking him square in the eyes.

"Promise. Now let's get on the road.

Mort picked up the two bags and headed for the car. After placing them in the trunk, he headed back into the house to help Deja bundle the children up.

"You ready?" he asked Deja.

"I guess," she answered, still not excited about leaving her kids for the first time.

Deja picked up Anthony and placed him into the car seat. Mort, following her lead, did the same with Alexis. He carried both of them out to the car and strapped them in as Deja locked up the house.

Within 15 minutes they were at Lilly's place. Lilly was still uncomfortable around Mort, but she had to deal with it because of Deja and the kids. She was so excited when they pulled into her driveway that she bolted out of the house to greet them.

Elijah and Joshua were soon to follow. "Hi!" Lilly said excitedly, as she hugged Deja who'd just stepped out of the car.

"Hi Lilly! Thank you so much for watching them," Deja said.

"Oh, it's no problem. The kids and I have been looking forward to this all day."

Mort carried both of the children and their car seats into the house as Deja and Lilly took the bags out of the trunk. "Promise you'll call me if you need anything?" Deja asked.

"I promise. And stop worrying so much. The kids are in good hands, plus it's not even a full 24 hours that I'm keeping them. They'll be safe, I swear to you."

"I know I can trust you. It's just...hard," Deja began to tear up. 

"Stop with the crying please. You and Mort need some alone time. It's nice he even wanted to get you alone."

"Oh please. He's been waiting to 'get me alone' since we brought the kids home," Deja said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, be glad. Savor every moment alone with him, who knows when I'll be this nice and keep the kids for you again." They both broke out into laughter. Deja was lucky to have Lilly. Besides Mort, she was the only friend she had in Tashmore Lake.

Joshua came back out and grabbed the two bags from Lilly and Deja. He thanked Deja for letting Lexi and Tony come over for the night, he was really looking forward to it. Mort walked down the front steps and made his way to the car. "Ready to roll?" he asked Deja.

"Yeah, I guess. Call me if you need ANYTHING," she told Lilly.

"I will, I will. Now go, have fun." The two women hugged good-bye and Lilly made her way inside.

"Thanks again, Lilly," Mort called out.

She turned slightly, a chill running up her spine. "No problem...Mort," she said as she entered the house.

Mort and Deja got into the car and drove back home. "So what's on the agenda?" Deja asked.

"It's a surprise," he said with a mischievous smirk on his face. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Walking into the house, Mort made his way upstairs. "Where are you going?" Deja asked.

"To get dressed," he answered casually and continued up the stairs.

"Well, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, I told you." 

"Well, how can I know what to wear if I don't know where we're going?" she began to follow him to the bedroom.

"Put on... that long, silver and black gown."

"I don't own a silver and black gown," she said, confusion on her face. 

"Sure you do," he said nonchalantly.

Sitting on the bed, she said, "Well, I sure would like to see this dress."

Mort walked to their closet and pulled out the most beautiful dress Deja had ever seen. It was a colored in creme and pale yellow. The top half was a strapless bustier and the bottom was ruffled with satin feathers. It was exactly her style. "Where did you get that from?" Deja asked.

"Uh...your closet."

"Seriously Mort. Where did you get this?" 

"A store."

She walked to Mort and took the dress out of his hands. She examined it and noticed it was made by one of her favorite designers. "Mort! This is an Yves St. Laurent!"

"Yeah, something like that," he continued to pull clothing from the closet.

"Mort, please pay attention to me. Where did you get this?"

He let out a long sigh, almost as if he was annoyed with all of her questioning. "You remember when I went to the city about five days ago, to see my agent?" She nodded. "Well, she wasn't in her office when I got there. She had a meeting across town. Her secretary said she would be there in about 45 minutes. I didn't feel like sitting in the lounge and waiting, so I went walking. I came across this great little dress shop and that dress was in the window. I knew you and I had plans tonight and that dress was perfect for our plans. The icing on the cake was the fact that it was an...an..Yves..."

"Yves St. Laurent," Deja interjected.

"Yeah, that. All those fashion magazines and designers I was forced to listen to you talk about ended up coming in handy. Anyway, go ahead and put it on and get ready." 

"Well, that explains the dress, but not where we're going?"

"It's a surprise!" Mort said.

"Fine, fine. I'm going to get ready.

They had both showered and Deja was in the bathroom applying her makeup and doing her hair. Mort had his tux on. He'd worn this tuxedo a few times to different industry events and was glad he could still fit in it.

He sat on the couch, checking the clock on the wall every two seconds. Finally, Deja made her entrance. She was truly a vision to behold. She literally took Mort's breath away. She made her way down to him. 

"So, what do you think?" she asked, twirling around to let Mort give her a once over.

"You look...amazing." 

"Thank you," she said, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "I'm just glad the dress fit."

The dress was like a second skin on her. It hugged her body in all the right places. And because it was a short dress, stopping right above her knees, her petite frame was accented beautifully. Mort was actually surprised at how fast she was getting her pre-baby body back. She was determined to be married soon and the only thing holding her back was her weight. She wanted to look perfect on her wedding day. She'd been on a diet and excersize routine not long after she came home from the hospital.

Her makeup was flawless and made her face glow. Her hair was elegantly pulled back into a half ponytail. It showed off her beautiful facial features. Mort wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his hands off her. He almost hated having to go to this event. He wanted to take her right then and there.

"Let's say we skip my plans and just stay here," he said as he pulled her close to him and began nibbling her ear.

"Yeah right! I want someone to see me in this dress," she said, pushing herself back.

"I see you in it, and I'd like to see you out of it."

"No sir. I want to see what you have planned for this evening." She grabbed her black shawl as Mort took the keys and escorted her to the car. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

They pulled up to a restaurant in the city around 6:30 pm. An attendant walked to the car and held it open for Deja. She exited and Mort walked around and led her inside. "We're having dinner at Tavern On The Green?" she asked.

"Not quite. More like attending a party."

"A party? For who?" 

"My agent. She's throwing a party here tonight and I told her I'd make an appearance. We'll only be here an hour tops, then I have more in store."

"More? Jeez, Mort. This is more than enough."

"I know, but how often are we going to be able to sneak away to the city, just the two of us?" 

"You've got a point."

They walked into the restaurant and were escorted to where the party was held. "Wow, this place is decorated so extravagantly," Deja whispered.

"I know," Mort whispered back.

They made their way into a room full of strangers, to Deja at least. "Mort!" a voice from behind them called. It was Debra Hunter, Mort's agent. "So glad you could make it," she gave Mort a warm hug.

"Hi Deb. This is my fiancee, Deja."

"Nice to meet you...finally," Debra said.

"Likewise. I've heard so many great things about you."

"Likewise." Both women began laughing.

"So let me see the rock," Debra said, grabbing Deja's hand.

Deja immediately became embarrassed. "Oh, Morty boy. You did good on this one," Debra laughed.

"I tried," he said modestly. 

"Well, I'm going to mingle some more. Glad you could make it and nice to meet you Deja." And as quickly as she appeared, Debra was gone.

"She's a character," Deja said.

"I know, you have to love her though."

"So, now what?" she asked.

"We mingle for another 30 minutes or so and then we sneak out," Mort answered.

"Naughty boy," she playfully scolded.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the appetizer table. They snacked on pate, an assortment of desserts and wine.

Deja was introduced to a few other writers Mort had become acquainted with and made polite conversation. Truth be told, she was bored out of her mind. She didn't mention anything to Mort because she didn't want to upset him. He seemed like he was enjoying himself so she would let him have this moment.

She stole glances at him from across the room. She was in the middle of a dull conversation with a self-help writer and Deja couldn't wait to escape. She had lost sight of Mort and hoped he hadn't gone too far.

While pretending to be interested in the conversation, she felt a hand wrap around her waist.  
Turning around she was surprised that it wasn't Mort. "Excuse me," she said pulling the arm from around her, "do I know you?" 

"Not yet, but I plan on changing that," the man slurred drunkenly.

Deja felt very uncomfortable and all eyes were on her. "I think you've had a little too much drink. Excuse me."

Trying to move past him, he grabbed Deja by the wrist and pulled her back to him. "Let go!" she yelled, "You're hurting my arm."

"I've been watching you all night. I just want to talk." The foul stench of too much alcohol breezed across her face.

"Look, I'm not interested. Let me go!"

"I just want to talk!" he yelled back.

"I think the lady said for you to let her go," Mort's voice said calmly from behind Deja.

"And who are you? Her boyfriend or something?"

"Yes, he is!" she said, pulling her arm free of his grasp. "Let's go, Mort."

They turned to walk away, and the man walked behind them and pushed Mort forward. After stumbling a few paces, Mort turned and something overcame him. He balled his hand up into a fist and threw a punch directly across the man's face.

The man flew backward and hit his head hard on the floor. Luckily for him that area of the room was carpeted, so the damage couldn't have been too serious. Mort's hand was in excruciating pain. He began to rub it and hoped he could ease the pain away. Deja ran towards the appetizer table and filled a cloth napkin with ice from the buckets filled with champagne bottles.

She ran back towards Mort and wrapped the ice filled napkin around his hand. He was grateful for the tender care she was taking of him. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said.

"You ready to go home?" she asked, concerned.

"Are you kidding? The best part of the evening is about to happen. This was just a pit stop."

"I'm so sorry about this."

"It's not your fault. How could you have known that creep was going to put his hands on you?" 

"I know, but I hate that he was able to put a damper on our perfect evening," she said.

"As far as I'm concerned this evening is still perfect. Had he punched me, it might've been a different story," he laughed.

Deja smiled back and they made their way outside to the car. The valet brought the car to them and Mort began driving to their second destination.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going now?" she asked.

"Nope. Guess you'll have to wait and see."


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Mort pulled into a parking garage and he and Deja took a short walk towards a theater. "Is this it?" Deja asked.

"Yes, it is."

"We're going to see a Broadway show?" A look of excitement crossed her face.

Mort nodded. "Which one?" she asked, not being able to see the marquee quite yet.

"Well, I thought long and hard about this. I know you love Broadway and it's been a long time since you've been. So...I thought I'd take you to see something you haven't mentioned. I do think you'll like it though," he said.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Deja said impatiently.

"Aida."

Her eyes widened. "I've read about that. Elton John had something to do with it right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. "Thank you. You knew exactly what I needed."

They entered the theater and took their seats in one of the boxes. Deja had never experienced a Broadway show as romantic as this. The story was beautiful and sharing it with Mort was even more special.

They pulled up to their house at about 11:45 pm. Mort was surprised that Deja was still wide awake. Over the last few weeks her body had worn her down and she was normally dozing off every chance she could. But 'Aida' had awakened her. She hadn't stopped talking about how breathtaking the show was since they left the city.

Walking into the house, Mort turned on the living room light. "Turn it back off," Deja said.

"Huh?"

"Turn the light back off. I'll light this candle." She picked up the candle and lighter on the coffee table and lit the candle. She kicked off her shoes and placed her shawl on the chair next to the couch.

Seductively, she made her way to Mort. She had a look of lust in her eyes and Mort knew what was on her mind. They hadn't been intimate since the birth of Alexis and Anthony and Mort was ready for whatever Deja was willing to do.

She backed him against the wall and flipped the light switch off. Her left hand was held firm against the wall as her right hand found it's way to Mort's hair. She lightly brushed it out of his face. Her finger trailed along his facial features and outlined them. She began at his forehead and went down the length of his nose. He closed his eyes. She then outlined his lips, tracing her fingers over them softly. She leaned in and kissed each of his eyelids.

Her body was pressed tightly against his and he was enjoying her touches. It was almost as if she was blind and exploring his face for the first time. At this moment he was putty in her hands.

Deja moved in and covered his lips with her own. She ran her hands through his hair as his hands roamed her body. He picked her up in both of his arms and carried her up the stairs.

Over the next hour, the couple shared their love in every way imaginable. Deja hadn't felt this free in a long time. This evening was exactly what she needed.

After wallowing in their afterglow, Mort excused himself and went downstairs into the kitchen to get more ice for his injured hand.

After tying a piece of cloth wrapped with ice around his hand he drank a glass of water. He was completely exhausted. Deja had really tired him out.

Making his way back upstairs, he heard a noise from the front porch. Ignoring it, he kept ascending. He heard the noise again. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but decided to go see anyway.

He headed back downstairs and opened the door. There, not even four feet from him stood Shooter. Mort's face turned pale and he wasn't sure of what to do.

Shooter tipped his large black hat at Mort. "Evenin'."

"What do you want?" Mort said in an angry whisper.

"Came to see you. Been a while. Hurt yurself?" he asked pointing at Mort's hand.

"No," Mort said matter-of-factly.

"Mind if I come in?" Shooter asked, although he knew he didn't have to.

"Yes. What do you want?"

Shooter made his way past Mort and entered the house. "Police don't seem t' be botherin' you anymore. That's good." He took a seat on the couch. "Did yur lil' girlfriend tell you 'bout what we did?" He had a smirk on his face that made Mort uncomfortable.

"You mean what you did!" Mort said, his tone increasing.

"She likes it rough, Morty boy. You could never do that. Felt good too."

"You bastard!" Mort went after him. They began to wrestle and this time Mort was actually ahead. He had Shooter pinned to the floor and was looking for something to hit him in the head with. Before finding an object, Shooter got one of his hand free and took Mort down. He hit Mort hard in the jaw.

He got up as Mort held the side of his face. Shooter walked to the fireplace and found the poker. He took it and hit Mort in the back. A few more whacks to Mort's head and he was out cold. Shooter made his way upstairs and knew exactly whom he was searching for.

Deja was half asleep, but heard Mort make his way into the room. "Mmmmm, what took you so long. I started missing you," she said.

Mort sat on the bed next to her and leaned down to kiss her. As soon as the kiss ended Deja knew something wasn't right. All evening long his kisses were sweet and gentle. This kiss was rough and out of place. She could barely make out anything in the darkness, but she feared he had the cold look in his eyes. Shooter's eyes.

"Mort?" she asked nervously. No answer. That was the indication she needed that it was Shooter.

"Mort, honey. Come get in the bed with me," she said, pretending like she didn't know it was Shooter.

Suddenly, her face stung from the slap of Shooter's hand. "Don't you play dumb with me! You know I ain't Mort!"

"I'm...I'm sorry," she cried softly.

She glanced toward the nightstand. "Gonna go for the gun?" he asked, his accent thick.

She let out a whimper. Mort had instructed her a few months prior that she should move the gun to a new location so if Shooter did come back he wouldn't know where it was. She had placed the gun under her side of the mattress. It was just a matter of her slipping her hand underneath and pulling it out. Mort had sent her to the store to purchase bullets for the gun. She didn't want to do it, but she was glad she had now.

Shooter had climbed on top of her and pressed himself down on her. In the moonlight, his eyes were the only thing she could make out. They were filled with hatred.

"Mort! Mort, please help!" she yelled.

"Ol' Mort won't be helpin' you t'night," he smirked.

"Mort please! I need you. You can beat him!"

Shooter pulled the covers from around her body. He was still straddling her, but had moved his hands to unbuckle his belt. This gave Deja the free moment she needed. Her right hand moved quickly under the mattress and pulled out the small black gun.

Grabbing it with both hands, she pointed it directly at Shooter's face. "Get off me!" she yelled.

Shooter threw up his hands and moved away from her. Deja neared the door and turned the light on. Mort looked completely disheveled as Shooter. "Now yur not really gon' shoot me are you?"

"Stay back!" she yelled. She didn't want to have to shoot him, but if it was necessary she would.

She backed out of the room and Shooter followed, his hands in the air as if to show he had no weapons. "Look darlin' I jus' wanted to have some fun."

"Stay back!"

She slowly backed down the stairs and Shooter, apparently unafraid of being shot, followed. She had backed herself all the way to the front door. One hand left the gun and began to work the doorknob. Shooter saw this as his moment to grab the gun from her.

He advanced and without thinking she shot him. He stumbled backward and grabbed his chest with his arm. "You bitch!" he yelled as he ran towards her.

So afraid of what he might do, she shot him two more times. Once more in the chest and then in the head. He fell to the floor. Blood began to seep out of his body. Deja couldn't believe what she'd done. Dropping the gun, she ran to Mort's side.

She picked him up and placed his body in her lap. His body was limp and lifeless in her arms. Tears were now flowing freely from her eyes. "Oh my God! Oh my God! What have I done!" she yelled over and over. "Mort, I'm so sorry! What have I done!"

She didn't know how long she'd been in that position for. Everything felt like such a daze for her. She eventually made her way to the phone and called the police.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Deja was very groggy. She couldn't recall much of what happened over the last few hours. Her mind wasn't functioning as it should. She could feel herself strapped down to something. The movement in her arms and legs were restricted.

She opened her eyes slowly, and was blinded by the fluorescent lights. She blinked a few times to adjust to the brightness. Slowly, she craned her head to the left and then the right. She couldn't make out where she was, but knew it wasn't at home.

She looked down and noticed the straps holding her body parts in place. The room was white and appeared very sterile. There was one door with a small window, but she was unable to see out because of the position she was in.

Deja attempted to call out, but her voice wasn't strong enough. She'd never felt this weak before. It was as if all the livelihood was sucked out of her.

She began to remember what happened before she woke up. She had killed Mort. He had become Shooter and a struggle between the two of them ensued. She had no choice but to shoot him. It wasn't as if she wanted to hurt Mort, but he wasn't himself. Shooter had left her with no choice.

Remembering the events she began to sob. Tears rolled down her face, her breathing increased and her chest began to convulse. As if out of nowhere, her voice started calling out for help. Within seconds, two fairly large men in white uniforms entered the room.

"Calm down," the blond man told her.

"What's going on? Where am I?"

"Same place you've been for the last few years or so," the other, darker haired, man muttered.

"Few years?" Deja asked confused.

"Look, the doctors want to keep you restrained like this until you calm down. I suggest you do as you're told so you can go back to your regular room as soon as possible."

"Think we need to give her a calming injection?" the dark haired man asked.

"No, I don't think so. She hasn't done anything outrageous since being restrained. We'll get her doctor in here and she can administer any sort of medication."

The two men checked to make sure she was shackled down properly and left the room. Nothing they'd said made any sense. She couldn't have been sent away for killing Mort could she? Had they put her back into the asylum for ending his life? But the man said she'd been there for a few years now. There was no way she couldn't have remembered the last few years of her life, was there?

A tall, thin redheaded woman made her way into the room. The name Dr. Stradford was on her name tag. She approached Deja with caution and said, "Are you feeling up to talking?"

"I'm confused," Deja answered wearily.

"I know, and I hate to see you in this shape, but you must understand it was necessary."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Deja pleaded.

"Deja, I'm going to need for you to relax before I can have the nurses undo you."

"How can I be relaxed if I have no idea about what's going on?" 

"You've had a very trying time here with us and you're just now coming back to 'reality.' I'll explain everything to you in our meeting this afternoon, but we need you as calm as possible first."

Deja decided she didn't have any other choice, but to calm down. She took a few deep breaths and let her body release. One of the men from earlier entered the room and undid her restraints. Her ankles and wrists were sore and after sitting up she began to massage them. 

She attempted to stand, but her legs felt wobbly. The other male nurse entered the room with a wheelchair. They both helped Deja get in it and her doctor wheeled her into the office.   
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"Okay, I'm really at a loss here. You're going to have to explain this to me again," Deja said to Dr. Stradford.

Dr. Stradford had told Deja what reality was for the last hour or so and Deja was still in disbelief. She needed to be told again, exactly what was real and what she had conjured up in her mind.

"Okay, let's go over this briefly," Dr. Stradford began, "after you were released from the Waverly Institute, roughly nine or ten years ago, you moved back in with your mother. Everything was fine for about two years, then when you were 18, you relapsed. No one is sure why you retrogressed, but you began to see imaginary people. Not the same ones that visited you at Waverly, but entirely new people. Your mother was so worried that she had you recommitted. Your condition only became worse after you entered the other institution, Safe Haven. You were there for almost seven years. You'd led yourself to believe that you had this boyfriend, Darrell and that things were great at first and then he began to cheat. You had no concept of time or place. You actually believed you were living in a house...alone. When your mother saw that your progress was worsening, she had you moved here. She saw no need in leaving you in a place that wasn't treating your condition. She did some research and came up with my name. Not to brag, but I'm a leader in the field of mental psychosis. She wanted the best help for you." Dr. Stradford let out a long sigh. She wanted to get all the details of this retelling correct. "I spoke with her on several occasions about your condition and we filled out the necessary paperwork to have you moved here, to Florida. She knew she couldn't afford to move here herself, but was willing to move you to benefit your situation. Unfortunately, only a week after settling you in here, Janice passed away. It was due to a stroke, but I somehow feel it was her heart breaking due to the fact that her only child was in such bad shape. I just think it was all too much for her to handle alone."

Deja began to tear up. The first time Dr. Stradford had told her this story it was too much for her take in. She hadn't even grasped the fact that her mother had died. Her mind was like a fog. It was as if she was waking up after a terrible, drunken night.

Dr. Stradford continued, "Well, you and Janice made such an impression on me that I've made it my obligation to find a way to help you. And believe me when I say this wasn't an easy task. This fantasy world you were living in was magical at first. I would observe you interacting with specific people. You worked in a diner and there were definitely some interesting characters that came through that job. The most interesting being Morton Rainey. He was a writer, correct?"

Deja nodded slightly, tears forming in her eyes at the thought that Mort wasn't real.

"Well, your relationship with him was so pure and loving. I thought his materialization would aide in your cure process. But I came to learn that Mort wasn't healthy either. You had created him as being someone with a disorder as well. Only his disorder was violent. I'm not even sure you ever came to realize it, but his personality, Shooter...besides killing the people you knew about he also killed...Darell, your ex, and Celeste, Darrell's girlfriend. She was the one following you in the car that night. Mort did some investigating on who it was that night and Shooter ultimately killed her."

Deja was in shock. "How...how do you know all of this?"

"Well, we kept cameras in your room at all times. And even though I couldn't physically be there to observe everything that went on, I would go back and watch tapes of scenes that seemed interesting."

"So you mean to tell me, I actually acted out all of these scenarios? Like I would act out that I was riding in a car? Or when Mort and I...when we..."

"Made love?" Dr. Stradford asked. Deja nodded, embarrassment showing itself on her face. "Yes, I saw all of that, but I didn't like to dwell on those moments," Dr. Stradford said. "The times when you and Mort fought, when his 'Shooter' personality came out were the most crucial for me to observe. Especially your last moment with him. Do you recall what happened?"

"Yes," Deja said softly. "I shot him."

"Yes, and do you know why?"

"He was attacking me."

"In your mind that's what happened, but it was all coming to a close because of the medication you were given. A new drug, Dioxymal, was just let out on the market about two years ago. It was very controversial and had just been approved by the FDA. They only wanted it used in extreme cases. You were observed by a Dr. Terry for six months before we could begin administering the Dioxymal to you. He felt like you were a good candidate for the drug so we would inject you with a small dosage of it at night while you slept. Over the next few weeks we increased the dosage. You began to slip in and out of consciousness and reality. Finally, the night that you killed Mort we had given you the largest dosage possible without putting you into a coma. The largest amount legal. We hoped this would be the breaking point, and luckily we were right. We had to be very attentive of you that night. We couldn't risk you somehow hurting yourself. That's why you were restrained. After the 'shooting' you passed out and woke up this morning in the realm of reality."

Deja let out a long sigh. This was all so much for her to take in. "So, now that I'm awake from this dream I've been living for so long, where do I go?"

"Even though we're pretty certain you won't have a relapse, we have to keep you here a little while longer, for observation. Go through more conventional methods of therapy and then when I feel like you're ready to leave from here, we'll send you packing." Dr. Stradford let out a small laugh. She was elated that Deja had finally come full circle in her recovery. 

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Deja was let back into her room. It was as if she was seeing it for the first time. In her mind it was her first time. Before, the confines of these four walls, had been the diner, the insurance office, Mort's house, the lake, everything she had ever come to know.

Now it was just a small, highly lit room with one bed and no windows. She studied the room. Looking in every nook and cranny. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she assumed it was something to connect her to her memory of Mort and Tashmore Lake.

Finding nothing, she laid down in her bed, exhausted from the day's events. Thoughts of her relationship with Mort and the children flooded her mind. She looked at her left hand, examining where here engagement ring had once been. Tears stained her cheeks. She fell into a dreamless sleep and wondered what the future held in store for her.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Deja Brown had turned 30 just two months ago. Her life was finally headed in a positive direction. She was finally leaving the institution. Her time with Dr. Stradford, Paula as she now called her, was well spent. The therapy was just what she needed and she felt like she was finally cured of all her ailments.

After discovering that Mort was just a figment of her imagination, Deja spent the next two and a half years in intensive recovery. Dr. Stradford was not ready to release her until both of them felt comfortable with it.

Although Deja routinely thought about her time in Tashmore Lake, she had come to know that it was all imaginary. She was now ready for the real world. She could always look inside herself and reminisce on what her mind had created, but there would be nothing sweeter than experiencing life itself.

"Got everything?" Paula asked.

"Yeah, everything's packed up and one of the nurses took it your car." Deja let out a sigh.

"Nervous?" 

"A little."

"Well, you know the assisted living facility is only required until you're stable enough to get on your feet. After you feel comfortable living on your own for a while you can go wherever you please."

A smile spread across Deja's face. "I know. I was thinking England maybe, or possibly Hawaii."

"Yeah, take it slow will ya?" Paula laughed.

"Hey, the world is mine to explore. I've missed out on a lot here." 

"True, true. Just take it easy okay?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thanks for everything though. I really appreciate you taking an interest in my case."

Paula hugged Deja tightly. "You just promise me you'll still come see me."

"Of course. Now let's get this show on the road!"

The two women walked to Paula's car and made their way to Deja's new apartment. She had wanted to get her own place, but Paula felt like this was a better transition for Deja. Deja reluctantly agreed and they were headed to Morningside Assisted Living. 

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"I am seriously pooped!" Paula said, plopping down on Deja's couch. 

"Huh, me too. Want something to drink?"

"Yeah, pass me a bottled water."

Deja went to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water and had a seat next to Paula. "You know," Deja began, "I really appreciate you furnishing this place."

"It's no problem. I was glad to do it. Plus a lot of it is my used stuff." 

"Well, either way I'm grateful."

"So, what are you going to do on your first night alone?" Paula asked.

"I don't know yet. Watch some tv maybe, or read a magazine."

"You know you did a lot of those two things at the institute. Even though you were still off in your own world within your mind, we'd escort you into the community area and you'd watch movies and read fashion magazines. I think that's how they found their way into your subconscious."

"Yeah, I guess that would make sense."

"Well, Deja...I'm tired and I need to get home, so I'm going to go on home." 

"Thanks for everything again," Deja said as she walked Paula to the door.

"Call me if you need anything."

"Will do," Deja said, giving Paula a hug good-bye.

As Paula left, Deja locked the door behind her and sat down on her couch. She glanced around the room and exhaled. It was like she had been holding that in all her life. She felt liberated.

She turned on the television and before finding anything interesting to watch, she fell fast asleep. 

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Deja was on her way to Paula's house from her last day at the grocery store. She had been working there the last eight months and now she'd finally had enough money to move. Thankfully, rent at the assisted living community was cheap so most of her money could be saved. Every Saturday she had off, was spent at the library checking out different places she could move to.

She finally settled on a small town in New York known as Highland Falls. It was right outside of the West Point military academy and she remembered going there once to visit as a small child. She knew Florida wasn't the place for her and being in New York would somehow bring her closer to her mother. She had yet to visit her mother's grave and made plans to do so as soon as she was settled in Highland Falls.

Paula wasn't too keen on the idea of Deja moving so far away, but Deja had proved that she could handle herself. So after some serious convincing, Paula helped her with all the preparations.

The moving company had already come and were taking all of her things to a small apartment Deja had negotiated the lease of. The owner of the apartment complex wasn't quick to rent an apartment to someone he'd never met, but Deja forwarded the first six month's rent and he seemed very accommodating after that. Deja had been staying with Paula for the last two days.

Deja unlocked the door to Paula's house and placed her belongings on the console in the hallway. "I'm home," she yelled.

"Good, I just finished dinner."

Deja walked into the kitchen and saw what a wonderful meal Paula had prepared. "Is all this for me?" Deja asked.

"Of course. I couldn't send you off without a real meal," Paula said.

Deja looked at the table filled with food. Paula had prepared salad, green beans, potatoes au gratin, meatloaf and apple pie. Deja couldn't wait to dig in.

Over the next hour, the two women enjoyed the meal as well as lighthearted conversation. Deja helped Paula with the dishes and then the two women headed to their bedrooms.

Deja's alarm woke her at 5:30 the next morning. She got herself up, took a shower and dressed. Making her way to Paula's room to wake her, she saw that she had already gotten up and was in her own shower.

About 30 minutes later, both women were dressed and ready to go to the airport. Deja had packed her small suitcase and was glad to not have to lug anything large with her. The moving men had taken everything except what she needed for her last few days in Florida.

After stopping by McDonald's for breakfast, they were on the road. "I'm sorry I can't wait with you in the airport," Paula said.

"It's fine. I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

"Well, you know if I didn't have to get to my patient this morning, I'd be here waiting."

"Paula, no need for explanations. You've done so much for me already, I'm glad you're helping someone else. That's much more important than sitting around some boring airport with me."

"You know, this patient, he reminds me a lot of you. I think he's got real potential to better himself."

"Good, I hope so."

"Well, here we are," Paula said, pulling up to the terminal that Deja's airplane company was at. Paula popped her trunk and they both got out. Deja lifted her suitcase from the trunk and hugged Paula.

"I'm really going to miss you," Deja said.

"Me too."

"Promise you'll visit?"

"Promise you'll invite me?" Both women began to laugh and cry simultaneously. After saying good-bye for the umpteenth time, Deja finally made her way inside the airport.

She checked in at the counter and went to the gate where her flight would depart from. After an hour wait, she was seated on the plane and ready for take off. This was the first flight that she could ever remember. She was a little scared, but excited nonetheless.

An attractive man about five years her junior sat in the seat next to her. "Hi," he said, placing his bag in the overhead compartment.

"Hello," Deja smiled back.

"I'm Brian." He stuck his hand out for Deja to shake.

"Nice to meet you Brian, I'm Deja." She took his hand in hers and shook it. Deja wasn't sure if this was common practice, interacting with a stranger on a plane, but she didn't see the harm in it. It would actually calm her nerves to talk with someone.

Buckling himself in next to her, Deja got a whiff of his cologne. Their was something oddly familiar about it. She studied him out of the corner of her eye. He had short, dark hair and a thin mustache. He was very attractive. Deja had noticed the glances he was getting from the other women aboard the aircraft. She felt a hint of thankfulness that his seat was next to hers.

"So...you from New York?" Deja asked shyly.

"Yeah, I was down here on vacation. My parents live in Orlando."

"Oh, that must've been nice," Deja smiled.

"Yeah, it was okay. Seven days straight is about all I can handle of the 'rents though," he sighed.

"The 'rents?" Deja asked, confused.

"Parents," Brian laughed.

"Oh, I must really be showing my age."

"Well, I wouldn't have guessed you're a day over 21," Brian said. 

"Yeah, tack about 9 more years onto that and you've got it about right," Deja laughed.

"If you don't mind me saying, you look absolutely fabulous for your age. Any age for that matter." He leaned into her ear and whispered, "And I happen to like older women."

Deja felt her face grow hot. She wasn't ready for such intense flirting. Breaking into her thoughts he said, "So what are you doing in New York?"

"I'm moving there. Leaving Florida permanently."

"Why?" 

"I was ready for a change. I spent my childhood in upstate New York and remember loving it there."

"So you're going to the upstate then?" he asked.

"No, actually to Highland Falls, a small city just outside of West Point, the military academy."

Brian began laughing. "What's so funny?" Deja asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I live in Newburgh. Near you."

Deja's face flushed again. "Well, that is a coincidence isn't it?" Deja said.

After a few more minutes of chit chat, they both went off into their own worlds. Deja had placed the headset, the flight attendant passed out, onto her ears and searched through the different music channels. 

The plane had taken off and Deja was fascinated by the clouds passing by. Brian had taken out a book by author Tom Robinson. Deja noticing this, was immediately taken back to the day she met Mort in the diner. He was reading a Tom Robinson novel that day. Deja remembered that distinctly.

Remembering this, Deja began to silently cry. She looked away so Brian couldn't see her face. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep. Once waking, the plane had landed and people were exiting.

"Sleep well?" Brian asked.

"It was okay," she answered softly.

"This your bag?" he asked, pulling a small purse from the overhead compartment.

"Yeah, thanks," Deja said, putting her purse over her shoulder.

They walked out of the plane together and silently made their way to pick up their luggage. After getting his own suitcase, Brian waited until Deja's came around although she repeatedly told him he didn't have to.

With their luggage in tow, they made their way outside. "So...how are you getting to Highland Falls?" Brian asked.

"I've got a rental car waiting on me here at the airport. I've got my directions on how to get there and I'm ready to roll," she smiled.

"Well, good. I'm actually staying here today. Got a hotel uptown. Gonna catch a cab." The way he spoke, in broken sentences, reminded her of Mort. For the first time in a while, she began to miss Mort. 

Blinking tears away, she said, "Well, it was nice meeting you Brian. Take care."

She began walking towards the car rental booth. Brian ran behind her leaving his suitcase in the middle of the floor. "Deja, think we could exchange numbers?"

"I...I don't think so."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not ready to give out my number quite yet." 

"Well, here." He pulled out a business card from his wallet and handed it to Deja. "If you ever get the urge to call me, please do. I'd look forward to it. Even if it's ten months from now." He let out a laugh. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Deja looked down at the card and said his name out loud, "Brian Barber." By the time she looked up Brian was gone. She slipped the card into her pants pocket and continued on her way.


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's Note: Well, this is the final chapter. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you all enjoyed reading it;-)**

**Chapter 39**

Two months had passed and Deja was finally getting settled into her apartment. She found that it wasn't the nicest apartment complex in the area, but her lease would be up in another year and hopefully by then she could purchase a house.

She loved this part of New York. The weather was perfect and living this close to the famous West Point academy allowed her to visit the many historical plots. She found a job working as a secretary for an attorney's office and would begin take nightly college courses when the fall semester began.

Since working at the law firm, she had taken a real interest in the inner workings of the law. She even considered going to law school. She knew it would be hard, but this was a goal she knew she could attain. 

Coming home from a rather stressful day at work, she put on something comfortable, popped a bag of popcorn and put in a movie she'd just rented. She had run out of juice, and made her way into the kitchen to refill her glass.

Sitting her glass down by phone she spotted Brian's card. She decided to keep it on hand in case she was ever ready to give him a call. She picked the card up and examined it. "Brian Barber," she whispered softly.

For another five minutes she glared at the card. She missed the touch of a man, the company of a man's conversation. Brian had seemed like a nice enough guy and he was certainly attractive. She decided she'd go out on a limb and give him a call.

Blocking her home number, she called him. As the phone began to ring, sweat formed around her temples. Her hand was shaking as it held the receiver to her ear. She couldn't believe she was actually calling him. He probably wouldn't even remember who she was.

After six rings, Deja readied to hang the phone up. "Hello? Hello?" she heard on the opposite end. She could've easily hung up and pretended the call never happened, but she was actually excited about talking to Brian.

"Hi? Brian?" she said into the receiver.

"Yes, this is Brian."

"Brian, it's Deja. The woman you met on the plane..."

"Deja? Really?" he asked, his voice full of surprise.

"You remember me?"

"Of course! I was gonna give you eight more months to call and then I was moving on," he laughed. His laugh was infectious.

"Well, I didn't want you holding out that long."

Over the next two hours, they had an amazing conversation. They talked about everything imaginable. One thing Deja purposely left out was her stay at the mental hospitals. She felt this was too early to let Brian in on something so personal. She hoped that over time it would be something she could share with him and that he could accept. 

"Well, it's getting late," she yawned into the phone.

"Yeah, it is," Brian agreed.

"I guess we'll talk some other time?"

"How about tomorrow?" he asked.

"What about tomorrow?"

"Well, you indicated you were off so I thought maybe we could get together. I could pick you up?" he suggested.

"I'm still not too comfortable with that. Seeing as how this is just our first conversation. How about we meet somewhere?"

"There's lots of beautiful parks in West Point, I hear. Never actually been myself."

"What! You've never been to West Point? Oh, we have to go there then. I could pack us a lunch and we could have good conversation in the park."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Brian said.

"How about...2 pm tomorrow afternoon?"

"Great. Give me your number so I can call you."

"Hahaha. You think you're slick. I'm not giving you my number yet. We'll see how you do tomorrow and based off of that we'll see if you're worth receiving it."

"Ouch! I guess that's fair enough though. Call me tomorrow around 1 pm or so?"

"Sounds good."

"And if I don't hear from you, I'll take it as you changed your mind," he laughed.

"Yeah, take it like that," she said, laughing back. "Good night." 

"Good night."

Deja hung up and made her way to her bedroom. She was excited about seeing Brian again. She felt as though this could be a great new beginning for her. 

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It was 12 o'clock in the afternoon and Deja was trying to decide on what to wear for her first date with Brian. She had to look appealing, but didn't want to overdo it with the sexiness.

The day was beautiful and she was glad they would be spending it outside. Hearing laughter from the garden outside she looked out the window to see the small children playing on the swingset.

She decided her clothes could wait. She enjoyed the laughter of children, but it saddened her because she often thought of Anthony and Alexis. Had she still been unstable they would've been about three now. Maybe two and a half.

Deja slipped her flip flops on and headed down the stairs. She made her way to the playground and saw that the two children were all alone. She had never seen them there before, but it wasn't strange to see children that didn't live in the complex playing there.

Deja looked around and saw no sign of adults. Deja made her way to the little girl on the swingset, the boy had moved to the sand lot. "Hi, sweetie. How are you?"

"Good," the little girl said in a small voice.

"How old are you?" The little girl held up three small fingers. A smile crossed Deja's face. "Is that your brother?" Deja asked pointing to the little boy. The girl nodded.

"Is your mommy and daddy here?" Again the girl nodded. "Your mommy?" Deja asked. She shook her head. "Your daddy?" The girl nodded.

"Good," Deja mumbled. "So what's your name?"

"Lexi." 

Deja's eyes intensified on the little girl's. Coincidence, she thought to herself. "And your brother?" she asked, almost afraid of what the answer might be.

"Tony. He's my..." She put her finger to her chin, as if deep in thought. "My twin."

Deja wasn't sure of what overcame her, but all of a sudden tears of joy and fear streamed down her face. "Where's your daddy?" she asked.

"There," the little girl pointed behind Deja.

Deja stood up and turned and looked into the eyes of the only man she ever truly loved. It was Mort. He looked almost the same, but had grown a little more facial hair and he no longer had the highlights in his hair. It was a dark brown color that Deja found suited him well. 

"This can't be," she mumbled, repeatedly.

Mort made his way over to her. "You're not real," she said.

He took Deja's hand in his and placed it over his heart. "How can you tell me this isn't real?" he asked.

"But the doctors, the institution," she shook her head, as if trying to wake herself from a dream, "they told me it was all my imagination."

"They wanted to keep us apart Deja."

"That's not true Mort. If the doctors were lying then you'd be dead." 

"You killed Shooter. Not me," he whispered into her ear. "Look at your children. We're here to be with you. Forever."

Deja looked at Lexi and Tony who were now both in the sandbox. She walked over to them and placed them both in her arms. She hugged them tightly and didn't want to ever let go.

"Kids, this is the lady we came all the way here to see. This is...your mom," Mort said.

"We missed you mommy," Tony said. Then they both gave her a kiss on each of her cheeks.

Deja was overcome with emotion. Mort crouched down beside his family and placed a loving kiss on her lips. He tasted her salty tears. "Why don't we go inside and talk things out," Mort suggested.

Mort and the kids followed Deja up to her apartment and got comfortable. "Mort, do you mind if I lie down for a while? I'm really drained."

"No, take all the time you need. We're not going anywhere."

Deja walked into the bedroom and closed the door. She knew this was just a relapse and hoped it would be over when she woke up. She thought about her date with Brian. She knew that wouldn't happen today. She'd call him later and apologize, maybe reschedule.

She picked up her cell phone, preparing to call Paula, but decided against it. She knew if she took a small nap, Mort, Alexis and Anthony would all be gone. Turning onto her side she slept for the next hour. 

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She awoke to singing coming from the living room. She got up and saw Lexi and Tony on the floor singing along to a Sesame Street program. Yawning, she turned to Mort who was seated on a kitchen stool. "How long was I out for?"

"About an hour or so," he said.

She rubbed her eyes. "Have you all eaten?"

"Not since you made that great breakfast this morning."

Deja thought back on the cold cereal they'd all eaten for breakfast. "HaHa, very funny," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "Well, I'll try to whip us up something better for lunch." 

"Sounds good to me," he said.

Something didn't feel quite right to Deja. She felt that during her nap, time had somehow slipped away from her. She shrugged it off and began pulling things out of the fridge. Mort snuck up from behind, and placed his arms lovingly around her.

He placed small kisses on her neck and shoulder. "Careful there Mort, that's how we got those two," she said, leaning her head towards the kids.

"I found something," he whispered into her ear.

"What?" she asked.

"Remember about a month ago, when you couldn't find your wedding or engagement ring?"

"Yeah," she said, turning around to look him directly in the eye. 

"Well...Tada!" He opened his hand revealing both rings. "I found them in the bottom of my gym bag. You must've taken them off when you went to work out."

"I'm so glad you found them! I was driving myself crazy looking for them." Mort took the rings and placed them both on her finger. Pulling her closer to him, he gave her a long, passionate kiss. It was as though they were both exploring each other for the first time.

Mort, breaking the kiss, made his way into the living room and began to interact with the children. Deja, taking a second before going back to her cooking, looked at the family before her. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had the perfect life, with the perfect husband and kids. Pictures of all their happy times, including a trip to Ocho Rios to see her mom, decorated the house. She felt she was truly blessed. No one could ever take this feeling away from her...ever. 

THE END


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